Gift From Space
by Banjoboy5
Summary: A group of kids are sent to another world as pokemon, and try to get everyone back home. Full summery inside. Transformation Fic. Also contains humor.
1. Author's note

**I have no excuse for taking so long to update… so I'm not going to bother with one. **

**Regarding the Australian jokes, I AM NOT IN ANY WAY MAKING FUN OF AUSTRALIA! I just use it because it's the furthest continent from mine, and it's the only one Samantha knows besides her own. IF YOU OR SOMEONE ELSE IS IN ANY WAY OFFENDED BY THESE JOKES, YOU HAVE MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES!**

Alright, you're probably wondering why I'm putting in an author's note. I'd always thought that the author's comments at the start and end of each chapter got in the way of the story, so I'm putting it all on one page. I'll put in disclaimers, comments, and everything else I'd tell you on a new chapter. Oh, and every time I put in a new chapter, be sure to look back on this page. It'll be updated every time I put in a new chapter. And if you're one of those people who don't care about any of this stuff, just skip this chapter.

First off, a proper summery.

When 6 kids in a run-down neighborhood decide to have a sleep-out, it's party till dawn, right? Well, that is, if the stars didn't start falling out of the sky and covering the whole world in flames! The next thing they know, they're in some forest in the middle of where-ever, and they've been turned into pokemon! Soon, however, they find out they're not the only one who are going to show up. Will they be able to get everyone together and find a way home? Or will their instinct influenced minds doom them to spending the rest of their lives as pokemon? Well, only one way to find out!

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. I do own the characters of this story, though.

Okay, about the story. It takes place in the real world…well, at lease it STARTS in the real world, the rest takes place…I'm not telling. That would spoil the whole story.

This story also has a good deal of humor, but, after giving it some thought, I decided that it's not really a humor story. If I could add a third category, it'd be humor, but in the long run, it's adventure/sci-fiction.

My writing style isn't very good (I basically write whatever pops in my head as I go, and I couldn't spell if my life depended on it.) and this is my first fan-fiction so cut me some slack if you have trouble reading it. Plus, I visualize the story as it goes, so I often forget to include who's saying what and what everyone's facial expression is, so sorry about that.

Moving on, this is the writing code:

Normal: basic wording, or soft sound

CAPITAL: Yelling, or loud sound

_Italic: _Thoughts, or journal entries

"Colons": Speaking (Duh)

(Parentheses): Additional info, or jokes

Underline: talking to the listener (you).

**Bold**: scene, time, or point of view change

I'm pathetic at introductions, so I have to put the characters here. This is only the first seven people, but they're the only ones whose point of view we see.

**Dan**: He's the leader of the first seven, and the neighborhood children's police. He's 14. He's famous for his courage, calmness, and decision-making skills. He never seems to panic, and is always in a serious mood. However, (as his friends know) he is really the kind of guy who knows when someone needs a word of comfort or a good joke. He is an orphan, but he doesn't let that get to him, and he hates it when people show him pity about it. However, he takes great responsibility for his friends (especially Sam and Mil), and often needs help controlling himself when they're in trouble. Despite this, he knows what everyone is capable of, and never takes all the credit. (He's also known for his humor, though not in a good way)

**John**: He's the team's comic relief (though, as Meg once said, he's more of a "comic stress"). He's 14. He's infamous for his witty humor. He only takes the "big things" seriously, and jokes his way through everything else. He just doesn't know when to quit. This often leads to him get pounded (usually by Jess). He also has less tolerance then anyone else to Meg's whining, and is usually the first to tell her to "zip it". However, (unknown to all except Dan and Mike) he's really just a kid who wants attention, being that before he meet Dan, he was often left out by his neighbors, and was always alone. He has his parents, but is an only child. He's often the second to volunteer for a mission, and is always very cheerful.

**Mike**: He's the team's brains. (Nickname: the human calculator) He's 13, but his birthday is only 2 months off. He's famous for his puzzle-solving skills, his laptop hacking skills, and nag for inventing. He's always in a thinking mood, and has trouble making jokes when he's stressed. He paces when he in DEEP concentration, and almost never stops till he has an answer. However, he has a small anger management problem, and when he can't take it anymore, he explodes. He has his parents, and a younger brother, Tom. He never seems to panic, but he takes his responsibility for his brother VERY seriously. He was Dan's friend since they were in preschool.

**Jess**: She's the team's strength (believe it or not). She's 14. She's famous of her attitude and intolerance to taunting. She's quite the tomboy, and everyone knows it. She's very short-tempered and has a way of making people be quite when she yells. She also has little tolerance for John's jokes, especially the insulting ones. However, despite her tough attitude, she has a soft side, and can give the prep-talk of the century. Also, she has a habit of matching wits with anyone and everyone who gives her and her team any trouble. She was friends with Meg (despite how much she hated her whining) for 8 years, but when they moved into the neighborhood they became good friends with Dan's group. She's always the first to volunteer for a mission.

**Meg**: She's the team's investigator. (You know, the one who stays behind to ask questions while everyone else go out into the field) She's 13, but her birth day is one month off. She's famous for her on-the-point attitude, but infamous for her whining habit. When something isn't right for her (when something is hard, disgusting, or inappropriate (from her view)) she'll whine for hours (till Jess yells at her). She's very persistent, and often acts and speaks without thinking about the consequences. Despite this, she really cares about her teammates, especially Mil, who she's nicknamed "Sugar." She was Jess's friend since they first meet.

**Sam**: He's the team's organizer. He's 8. He is famous for his tidy habits, but infamous for his loud crying. He's also giddy and in good mood, as long as he's not panicking. When ever he gets scared, he starts crying, and boy, is he LOUD! In fact, calming him down was one of the gang's first missions. After that, the bullies learned that causing him trouble led to momentary deafness, and left him alone. Fascinated by the team's determination, he volunteered to join, and they accepted him. As the months rolled by, he was more and more impressed, eventually coming to see Dan as a roll model, and listens to him like he's a responsible adult. He's Mil's best friend, and was the one who asked for her to join.

**Mil**: She's the team's prep-talker (her job is to keep the one in trouble calm). She's 7. She's famous for her "endless sunshine" personality. Only when she's scared does she lose that attitude, but it takes a lot more than a rubber snake to scare her. The team first met her 2 years ago when Sam asked for them to help her from some bullies, which they were happy to comply. Afterwards, Meg toke a liking to her, and, seeing that she was impressed, Sam asked her to join. She accepted. She was Sam's friend since she was 3, and barley knew who Sam was. Meg calls her Sugar from her sweet tooth, even though Sam also has one, and the two of them are always sneaking candy where ever they go.

Okay, the rest is the part that's going to be updated every new chapter.

I've heard people who have trouble knowing what the pokemon look like (believe it or not) and I've decided to put in a few definitions here, so if you know your pokemon, you can skip the bold part, and the chart. If not, have a look.

**Ok, there are a lot of things to know about pokemon, but at the moment, there are only two things you need to know. If you need to know more for this story, I'll put it here. One more thing, if you see something in this story about pokemon you don't understand that is not here, it doesn't make a huge difference to this story. **

**First off, pokemon can perform special skills known as "moves". These moves vary from super sharp cuts to ice beams, depending on the pokemon's type, which determines what moves are strong against each pokemon. **

**Ok, now here is a list of the pokemon used so far. Please bear in mind that descriptive writing isn't my style, but I'll do my best. Here's how it works: **

**Name**: classification; type; size; skin color; legs (four or two legs); unique traits; eye color; additional info.

**Mudkip**: mud-fish pokemon; water type; 1 foot, 4 inches; has blue skin on upper body and head, white skin on stomach and tail, and orange cheeks; 4 legs, with three toed paws; has a fin-like tail, a plank-like dorsal fin on top of head, and orange half a star shaped gills on the cheeks witch allow it to breath under water; black oval eyes; has a sonar with dorsal fin.

**Chikorita**: leaf pokemon; Grass type; 1 foot, 11 inches; has light green skin; 4 legs, no toes; has a stubby tail, a ring of seeds around the neck, and a leaf sticking out of the head that is big enough to shade it's entire body, though not the head; red eyes with white pupils; has a pair of vines that can be extended and moved at will.

**Pikachu**: electric mouse pokemon; electric type; 1 foot, 4 inches; has yellow fur, and red cheeks; can walk and stand on two legs, but must use 4 legs to run, back legs are paws, but front legs (or arms) have five stubby claws that behave like appose thumbs; has a lighting bolt shaped tail, long pointed ears, and electric sacs behind red cheeks; black circle eyes; is the most famous pokemon of all time.

**Torchic**: fire chick pokemon; fire type; 1 foot, 4 inches; has orange feathers and yellow wings; stands on two talons, its wings are too small to fly with; it has a small tail, a beak, three yellow feathers sticking out of it head (like an Indian or something), and a fire sac somewhere inside it (I have no idea where); black circle eyes; can breath fire, once it knows how.

**Treecko**: gecko pokemon; grass type; 1 foot, 8 inches; green skin on back and head, red stomach, and dark green tail; stands on two three toed feet and has two arms with three fingers; has a twin leaf like tail; yellow eyes with slit like pupils (like a snake); can scale walls with small hooks on feet and hands

**Cyndaquil**: fire mouse pokemon; fire type; 1 foot, 8 inches; tan skin on front part of body and face, black skin on back side, and several red spots on back; waddles on two legs with no toes; is hunched, has small stubs for arms; slits for eyes; the red spots on the back release fire when it is excited, scared, or focusing it's energy.

**Eevee**: evolution fox pokemon; normal type; 1 foot, 0 inches ; brown fur, white collar, ear tip, and tail tip; 4 legs, paws; has a fluffy tail, pointed ears, and a fluffy collar; brown circle eyes; is called the evolution pokemon because it can evolve into SEVEN different pokemon (I tell you what that is when it's important).

**Pichu**: small mouse pokemon; electric type; 1 foot, including ears; light yellow fur, black tail, and everything else is the same as a pikachu; same as a pikachu except the hands have only a hand and a thumb; black circle eyes; evolves into a pikachu, can't control electricity very well and will often zap itself when startled or scared.

**Taillow**: small bird pokemon; flying type; 1 foot, 0 inches; dark blue feathers, white wings, red chest; The same as any bird; again; and again; can cause strong winds with its wings, once it knows how.

**Togetic: **happiness pokemon ; normal/flying type; 2 feet when head is upright; white skin, red and blue patches on body; walks on two legs; two legs with paws and two stubby hands; has spikes on top of it's head, a long neck, and wings on it's back; black circle eyes; can sense the happiness of others.

**Plusle**: positive charge pokemon; electric type; 1 foot, 4 inches; tan fur, red paws, red ears, red tail, red cheeks with tan plus symbol in center; can walk on two or four legs; two legs with stubby paws, two arms with stubby fingers, plus shaped tail, wide pointed ears, electric sacs on checks; black eyes with red tint; gains half its strength from its minun partner.

**Minun**: negative charge pokemon; electric type; 1 foot, 4 inches; tan fur, blue paws, blue ears, blue tail, blue cheeks with tan minus symbol in center; can walk on two or four legs; two legs with stubby paws, two arms with stubby fingers, minus shaped tail, wide pointed ears, electric sacs on checks; black eyes with blue tint; gains half its strength from its plusle partner.

**Gengar**: ghost pokemon; ghost type;; black/purple skin; walks on two legs; feet and hands have five "fingers" but they're not apostle thumbs, spiky tops, it's face is on it's body, a small tail, and red eyes; can torment living beings in their sleep

**Ekans**: poison snake pokemon; poison type; 6 feet, seven inches long; purple/pink skin, yellow patches and rattle; no legs (It's a snake, what do you think?); rattle, fangs; snake eyes; has poison sacks

**Piplup**: penguin pokemon; water type; 1 foot, 4 inches; blue body, white face, yellow beak and feet; 2 legs; a beak, flippers for 'arms', and a funky shaped tail; blue eyes; can do 'bubble,' if it knows how.

**Machop**: muscle pokemon; fighting type; 2 feet, 7 inches; gray body; 2 legs and hands with five fingers; 3 "fins" on top of head, a tail, and solid muscles, body shaped like a human; red eyes; is unbelievably strong

**Sandshrew**: shrew pokemon; ground type; 2 feet; tan front side and yellow back; 2 legs, and 2 hands with three claws; has sharp claws on all limbs and hard rock like skin; black eyes; has great digging abilities

**Vaporeon**: vapor pokemon; water type; 3 feet, 3 inches; light blue fur, dark blue tail ridge and fore head, white fins and neck fan; 4 legs, mermaid-like tail, fan-like ears, dorsal fin, and neck fin; black eyes; can briefly turn into water, if it knows how.

**Ralts**: emotion pokemon; psychic type; 1 foot, 4 inches; white skin, red horns, and green 'hair'; 2 legs- both burred in baggy cloth-like skin, 2 fingerless hands, has horns at top of fore head and back of head, has green 'hair' that covers half of head, including eyes; red eyes, though hard to tell at a glance; can feel the emotions of living things around them.

**Buneary**: rabbit pokemon: normal type; 1 foot, 4 inches; brown fur on upper body, white fluff on lower body and ear tips; 2 legs, 2 'hands', giant ears, and a small rabbit tail; black eyes; attacks with ears instead of hands, which sting enough to make a full grown man cry.

**Caterpie**: caterpillar pokemon; bug type; 1 foot; green skin with yellow patters, yellow legs and belly, and a red horn on forehead; ? legs but there are a lot of them, has a two ended but not sharp horn; black eyes with yellow rings; can spin silk, but only if it know how.

**Ditto: **shape-shifting pokemon. It's basically a pink blob with eyes and a mouth. It makes more of a cameo than a character in this story, so I'm not getting into the details.

Next, excuses. First off, I have a lot of other things to do. Also, I have trouble staying in my seat and type so I have trouble writing. And of course, I constantly suffer from writer's block, so I often don't even have something to type, so don't think I've given up on this story if I don't update it in awhile.

Review responses! I don't care how many I get, I'm writing responses to every one of them! If you review, I'll respond. Oh, by the way, I update this page when I put in a new chapter so if you review my response won't show up until I add to the story, so don't think I've forgotten you if you're response isn't here yet. Oh, and I'm not good at conversations so I have no idea if these responses are going to be any good.

To **Ryan** (anonymous): YAHOO! My first review! Thanks for making me feel so alive! Anyways, I put character viewpoints in because I'm a lot better at first person for some reason. That's all you put in your review, except this story's potential, so that's all I can respond to. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

To **Tyler T. the Pikafan**: Wow, that's a lot to say in one review, so I'll respond in order. 1) I thought it seemed original too, so I didn't worry about stealing someone else's idea. 2) I've noticed the same thing, even in a certain video game (cough* Mystery Dungeon *cough). I mean come on, are they turning into pokemon, or just putting on realistic costumes? Seriously. 3) I put in so many reactions because, face it, everybody in the world would react differently if this really happed. Oh, and 4) I'd love to put my story in that community.

To **Woodsballer**: Did you even read the opening note? I already explained why I have it all here: to NOT put it between chapters. It's in the second paragraph for crying out loud. This is my first story; I'm trying to find a writing style that works. I know it's confusing sometimes, but I'm trying to improve on that. Give me a chance, ok? And what's wrong with 7 protagonists anyway?

To **Tyler T. the Pikafan (again)**: Well, I've already responded to everything, and you already have a response here, so, to keep it short and sweet, thanks for the advice and examples, and I appreciate the review. In other news, Tyler T. the Pikafan is currently writing his own transformation story. It's not up yet, but he's working on it. Look at his profile for details.

To **Nicholas **(anonymous): I thought I already fixed that. Anyway, that's taken care of now, and thanks for the tip.

To **VulpixTraine**: Wow. That's the first time someone told me I put this story together in a good way. Thanks! I'm not to sure about the writing style, but it's nice to know that it actually works (that was one of my greatest worries for my first story). Hey, thanks for making this page seem worth wile! What happened to the path? Heh, that's for me to know, and eventually write down, and for you to read when I do. Animorphs? Well, they were a hit series! Sorry it took so long, but here's that chapter, so enjoy it!

To **Sam PD **(anonymous): Ok…thanks. Glad I could help.

to **MD Fan**: Cool… I like the sound of that. It's a bit mysterious? Ok, that's not a bad thing. You like my writing style? Ok, now I've got some real confidence in it! Authentic? You mean more author like, right? That's good to hear! Really? I get a lot of criticism for my humor at home, but if you think it's good, that works for me! Sorry to have kept you waiting, but here it is!

to **Nicholas**: Glad to have helped. Hm… I won't say anything (That would spoil what's to come!), so I'll just say I've given your suggestion some thought.

to **Nicholas**: Wait, are you the same guy who gave me the last review? Either way, I think you spoke too soon. Just take a look at the pokemon descriptions, or better yet just read the new chapter.

to **Teraunce**: Is this a review or a challenge to Tyler T's pokemon knowledge? Sigh… whatever, it's your review. As for the 10/10: WOW! Are you serious? I know it's good, but THAT good? Man, I think I'm going to have to put a little more time into writing this!

to **Teraunce **(again): Hm… you're really watching this story, aren't you? That's Awesome! I'm not going to make any promises (which would spoil the story), but I can tell you she IS one of the nasty ones. 13? Whoa, I think I might have a fan here! Thanks!

to **Tyler T. the Pikafan **(yet again): All's forgiven. Strike another thumbs up to my humor. Heh, those are some good points about Samantha. Again, I'm not about to spill any beans, but I promise you she's going to have big scene later on, for better or for worse.

to **Teros**: Geez, watch the language will ya! I'll let it slide this time because two letters you replaced are hard to read, but I've got my eye on you.

to **Great Gengar**: Who knows? She seems like she's as proud as physically possible already. Let me guess, Nicholas, right?

to **Jolteon Master**: Like any other? What other? All the stories dealing with a world crossover I've seen don't seem too similar to each other. I thought it was hard to read; I'll have to consider revising it for later chapters. Lucky guess for one of the athletes.

to **maylene's little sister (x5)**: 5 reviews in one day? Ok. (Deep breath) Dance for joy of being a pokemon? Fair enough, I guess. Score another for my humor! Really? I have the story beta read before publishing it… I can't actually guarantee they will start training, but I can't deny it either. (Chuckles to himself) I like that picture! Maybe I can find a use for it. Thanks! Again, I don't want to spoil anything, so that's one question I can't answer. Who said I was doing it to be evil? I was doing it for suspense. I'll leave the 'eviling' to you. Thanks for the quintile review!

to **Jolteon Master **(again): The writing problem's now the paragraphing? Now I'm hopelessly confused! Yeah, I guess that when I mentioned athletes, sandshrew didn't pop into the mind.

to **(Sorry, I don't have Japanese text!)**: Ok… should I consider this a threat? Well, at any rate, I AM a bit late, but I have a good excuse! Look at the next review response… and that was NOT what went through my head when I read that!

to **meta4life**: Ok, first off it takes so long because I have trouble making writing a priority. I just tend to slip up and do other things instead. I'm sorry I couldn't add the new chapter that week, but I was on vacation the week you sent it, so I couldn't upload it, and when I finally got home I had a little trouble getting it to my beta reader. Now that THAT's all behind me, here's the chapter. In other news, I'm aiming to step up the writing, so I should (hopefully) finish the next chapter sooner. Wait… did you say huge follower? … … I HAVE FANS! Ok, no more slacking! I've got writing to do!

to **Beth**: Oh. Didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

to **Aunt Sue**: Well, it's only a fan fiction, but I am proud of it!

to **fors**: Thank you.

to** TwilightUmbreon12**: Here's the chapter, and- wait, my story is something to read when you're bored? OK… I'll take that as a complement… I guess.

to **Mijj**: Fun? First time I've heard this story get called that! Yeah, I really need to update more often, I know. Here's the next chapter: hope its good enough.

to **Starly **(anonymous): wait a minute, this is a page-turner (metaphorically speaking)? Man… now I REALLY feel guilty about not updating this faster.

to **Drakesword**: Shoot! What I want to say I've said a dozen times already! Ok, how about this: I commend YOU for the review, and have this chapter for free! (Not much, but better)

to **8TailFox **(x3):hm… a 10, another 10, and a 11? You must really like this to give 10's to several chapters!

_NEW_ to **Drakesword **(again): It was not soon, but here it is.

_NEW_ to **Drago0661**: I'm touched, really. That's a lot of praise is a few sentences. That said, I guess I really should get around to making a list like that…

_NEW_ to **Zigzagoon**: Nah, they're just the comic relief. Probably not. That would be a long list, but I'm not going to bore you with it.

_NEW_ to **k m**: Yes, I know. I am fully aware of that! It there because it's supposed to show how vain Samantha is, not declare itself false!

_NEW_ to **100-percent-Empoleon** (X4): Wow.

_NEW_ to **Blade Starshot **(X3): For the record, this is not a mystery dungeon story. And no, there will not be such a scenario. Yes, but I was not trying to make this story to be similar. It was supposed to be just a dimensional shift sort of one. Now that you mention it… I guess they are really similar! How did I miss that while picking pokemon for them? Anyway, you're right. They fight in the new chapter.

Ok, one last thing, reviews please! This is my first time writing anything, so I want to know what people think of my stories. By the way, when I say review, I talking to YOU! Not some other guy who put up reviews without even looking at the story! I even accept anonymous reviews.

Alright, that's it, enjoy the story, and tell me what you think of it!


	2. Prologue: It's Raining Fire!

Prolog: It's Raining Fire

**Prologue: It's Raining Fire!**

_Journal Entry: May 22_

_Just another day for the guards, though the scientists in the base are doing back-flips. Why? Their message-translator-thingy (don't know what it's called, I'm just a guard) caught some message coming _from_ space. Joe thinks it's Aliens, but I don't think so, since it was in English. We managed to overhear it, since the white-coats were playing it so loud:_

_**Our world has come to an end,**_

_**Even now, the darkness is coming.**_

_**We have destroyed ourselves,**_

_**It is too late to save us.**_

_**Our only hope for survival,**_

_**Rests in our past, yet,**_

_**We cannot go there.**_

_**We cannot be saved,**_

_**But we have hope, YOU.**_

_**We send you our hope,**_

_**For our sakes, take it.**_

_**Expect the hope,**_

_**When the moon is strongest…**_

_Sounds like a cry for help, though they must have got the wrong world. I mean, we haven't gotten past our moon yet, let alone our solar system. Moon…Strongest… When it's full maybe? That was a week ago, so that means in June. But… sigh, normally I'd think this is all some joke, but, I have a funny feeling about this one. –James, head of guard._

**Dan**

My name's Dan. It's a common name, so that's not a big deal. I'm not telling you my last name. Why? I have personal reasons why, and I'm not telling you those either, so deal with calling me Dan. Who am I? I'm just an average 14-year old. I have a life, friends, school (Yuk), and dreams for the future. What do I look like? That doesn't matter; this story doesn't have anything to do with what I look like, at all... Anyway, I'm no one special, but my life is missing something. What do you have that I don't? Parents, I'm an orphan. No, I don't live in some orphanage, my parents left me the house, and the townsfolk took care of me till I was 10 (this poor town couldn't afford an orphanage anyway). My parents were rich, so I don't have to worry about getting kicked out of the house, though not enough cash that I can spoil myself. I have many friends. I am happy with my life. ………………Man, I HATE Biographies. Who wants to know how rich I am? Who wants to know who took care of me when I was young? WHAT DOES ANY OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE STORY!! … OK, now that that's taken care of, let's get started.

It was an average June night (the 18th to be precise). Picture a field outside of a small town, summer, about 11:56, full moon, tents, and you got our sleep-out. Who was here? There was Dan (me), John (male, 14), Mike (male, 13, birthday in August), Sammy (male, 8), Jessica (female, 14), Megan (female, 13, birthday in July), and Millie (female, 7, a.k.a. Sugar, (only Meg calls her that). We were celebrating our gang's 2nd anniversary (It became official when Mill joined, though we had been friends for years), and the start of summer. Of course, it wasn't that simple. Meg wanted to throw a party at the mall (too expensive), Mick wanted to play games all night (we did that last year. One word on how much we paid attention in school the next day: none). Mill wanted to play ponies all night (wonder why no one wanted to do THAT except her). All ridiculous………….. OK, so I wanted to throw a pizza party and we could never decide what to get for a topping, but it WAS a good idea. Everyone else agreed to a camping trip, and at 3-1-1-1 votes, camping won, though we agreed to just go into Mike's backyard instead of in the woods. Of course, not everyone was happy about this. "It's almost midnight. I should be asleep. I should be in bed. Instead, I'm outside, cold, wide-awake, and I'm losing my beauty sleep. I also-" "Give it a rest, Meg. You're not going inside, no matter how much you complain, so stop whining and give us a chance to relax." I told her. She's not exactly an outdoor person, though even Mike (the electronic master) wasn't complaining.

"You have to admit that it's better than chasing bullies around the play ground." John pointed out. We're the children's police you see, and we do a good job at it too. I'm the leader; John and Jess are the field group; Mike's the strategist (guy who gives the plans); Meg's the informer; and Sam and Mill are backup, though we've never needed backup (thank goodness). "I'm just saying-" "How bad you want to go inside? Like you've been saying for the last…two hours and fifty-six minutes?" Mike asked, looking at his watch (which he has 24-7), "its 11:58, so if you're going to complain, wait two more minutes, then you can go to bed." (We agreed to stay up till midnight.). "He's right, Meg, just stop whining for a little bit more, then go to sleep while we party." Jess said. That's her, being the only one who can get Meg to stop whining, most of the time, "You're not serious. Why would anyone have a party at midnight?" "Cause it's fun!" Sam and Mill said at the same time, which they do a lot (I mean they say things at the same time a lot, not "Cause it's fun!" Sheesh).

"Come on guys, it's time for the countdown!" John said (What? Got a problem with a New Year's tradition in summer?) "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2-" "Look! A shooting star!" Mill yelled. And so there was, but she was only half right. At 12:00, it looked like every star in the sky was falling. "Wow…" was all Meg could say. It was beautiful, 'till the stars started to get bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER! "They're gonna hit us!" Sam yelled, though that was pretty obvious at the moment. Suddenly…BOOM! The first one hit, and the grass caught fire! It's raining fire!" Mill yelled. "Get back to the-" was all I could say before…OOOFFF!! I'd been banged in the forehead! I saw the ground rushing up at me and……………… Darkness……………… Nothing………………

**Millie**

Dan was yelling for us to get out of there when he was hit. One second, he was trying to get us out of there, and the next he's on fire! He dropped to the ground, burning, and covered in flames. Then, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM! Everyone else was hit except Sammy and me. "Mil-"than Sammy was hit. Everywhere I looked, I saw fire. Then, BOOM, I was hit too…………the pain………… It hurts……………………… Ow ………………


	3. Chapter 1: Who Needs an Alarm Clock?

**Chapter 1: Who Needs an Alarm Clock?**

**Dan**

The first thing I noticed was the heat, the sunlight. Then I felt the ground under me. Then I noticed…THE PAIN!! AAAHHH!!………………… After a while, the pain began to fade. Slowly, so slowly, so very slowly, perhaps TOO slowly (it certainly FELT too slow), it faded……………… After a weird moment where I couldn't feel anything, I began to take in my surroundings, well, as well as you can with your eyes closed. I was covered in something, the wind was blowing softly, and I felt like I was in some sort of costume. You know, the ones with a tail that was poorly attached so when it's pushed sideways the costume digs into your back or your… never mind, but you get the idea. I felt so weak………Then I remembered, the stars! Where was everyone? Where was I? Wait, HOW CAN I STILL BE ALIVE AFTER THAT?! After a while (a few hours… OK, about 20 seconds), I decided to move and find out what happened. I opened my eyes, and saw, FIRE!! … OK, OK! I'm joking. Man, you don't have to pound me! OK, what I really saw was darkness, with one small hole of light close to the ground. I inched my way to it, and stuck my head out, but oooffff, something held me back! It was my cheeks, and something attached to my head. I pushed harder, still holding back. Harder, harder, HARDER! Then, POP! I flew out, flew about 7 feet into the air, and landed, face first, into the dirt, about 3 inches from a lake. _Wait, since when did Mike's backyard have a lake in it?_ Looking closer, I saw that it was only about 6 inches deep, but it was huge! _Did I shrink or something? _Then I saw my arm. _WHAT THE-!!_ My arm was blue! I followed it to my hand… It was some kind of 3-toed paw! _Gulp_… I pulled myself closer to the lake/puddle of water, closed my eyes, put my head over the water, and opened my eyes …………………………………………… AAAHHHH!!

What I saw in the water's reflection was……….THE LOCH NESS MONSTER!!... OK, OK, OK, OK!! Come on, can't you take a joke? No? Well, that's your problem, not mine. If you can't stand my humor, then you can leave. What do you mean "if I leave this ends?" WHAT?! YOU'RE FUNDING THIS!?...Fine, I stop with the jokes, but I'm still putting in my comments. Anyway, what I really saw was a blue-skinned creature, with black oval eyes, small slits for a nose, orange half-a-star-shaped gills sticking out on the cheeks (probably what held me back), and a plank-shaped dorsal fin on the top of its head. I slowly turned my head around and saw my body: blue, four legged (with the same 3 toed paws as my arms), white stomach, and a white fin-like tail. Yes, I knew what I was, yes I knew everything about what I was, and YES, I was dumbstruck. I was a Mudkip, a Pokémon. I tested this theory (though it was obvious, I was trying to deny it, that's all). "Hello?" I said hello, I heard hello, but I also heard "Mudkip" come out of my mouth…………………………………………… I just stood there (well, sort of, Mudkips stand on 4 legs), letting this all sink in. Then I remembered that everyone else was with me, so they had to be in similar messes.

You're probably wondering why I wasn't freaking out at the fact that I had turned into a Mudkip. Here are a few reasons: 1) I knew a lot about Mudkips (playing Pokémon all night (1st anniversary) does that to ya), so I knew how to survive as one. 2) I had already flipped out (if the giant "ah" didn't tell you that, than the exclamation points would've told you). 3) I like Pokémon (same reason as point 1) so I didn't have a problem with them. 4) I have a natural ability to stay calm. Yes, even in a situation like this. 5) I was more worried about Mill, Sam, and Meg (the first 2 because they're young and Meg because there was NO WAY she wasn't going to freak out about this). 6) I was probably dead right now, so I was happy to be alive, even as a Mudkip.

I started to walk, OOFF! I fell onto my face! _Alright Dan, THINK! You have 4 legs now; you need to use all of them, not just your hind legs._ With that in mind, I tried again (OOFF!), again (AAAHHHH! OOFFF!), again (steady, steady, OH-OOFFF), and again (got it! OOFFF! Tripped). After about half an hour, I felt a little comfortable with walking on 4 legs, though I still fell down a lot. Then I looked at my surroundings. I was in the middle of a clearing in a forest, so I was definitely not in Mike's backyard. There were trees, sunlight, and several puddles (I knew they were puddles, now that I knew I was Mudkip-sized) all over the place. _Was I sent to the Pokémon world too?_ _Likely, but, why was there no bird song? Even the Pokémon world has it, though it's Pidgey instead of robin. _Then I noticed something out of place: my clothes! I must have been buried in them when I got here, wherever here was. I ran over (OOFFF!) and searched them. Everything was there: my bag of marbles, my pocketknife, my matches, a candy bar (3 Musketeers), a mini flashlight, my badge (a trinket I got at a dollar store, nothing impressive), and my handkerchief (you need one when you're the leader of something to calm you down when you can't take the complaints, just to let you know why I had one). My clothes were WAY too big, so I didn't bother to fold them. I carried everything else away for sorting. I attached my badge to my handkerchief (with the pin in the back, NOT with glue) and tied it around my neck like a scarf (I won't tell you how hard it was to do that without fingers) so the others would know who I was, and not just some average Mudkip (though they're not very common, even in the Pokémon world). I was hungry, so I ate the candy bar (again, I can't tell you how hard that was, and it didn't taste so good to my Mudkip tastes). I put the rest aside for later, and with that, I was ready to find the others.

It didn't take long to find the first member of the gang. There was a bundle of clothes with a lump in it just a few meters from my pile, though it was behind a tree so I didn't see it 'till after I finished eating my candy bar. I approached it slowly. _OK man, if it's John or Mike, just tell 'em, they'll be alright with this. If it's Jess, explain it slowly. If it's Sam or Mill, take it VERY slowly. And if it's Meg-_ I pulled away the shirt, and saw a Chikorita. It was unconscious, and was breathing slowly. They_'re women's_ _clothes,_ _so it's not John or, Mike. The clothes are too big for Sam or Mill, so it's probably Meg or Jess. Great, I have to go through the hard one or the hard-hitting one first._ I pulled the Chikorita out and pulled so its head was in front of a puddle. That would explain everything to whoever it was. Suddenly, it stirred. It trembled a little, and then slowly opened its eyes (which were red). "What the-", it said weakly. Then Meg (I knew it was Meg because her voice hadn't changed, though she did say "Chika" when she spoke) realized she was looking in a pool of water. I plugged my ears (though I didn't have any, I held my front paws to the sides of my head) and…………………………………AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! (I'm not exaggerating, she did scream that loud, and that long) …………………………………………………………WHAT'S HAPPENED TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEE?! …………"Well, you kind of turned into a Chikorita…" "I KNOW THAT!!" "Then why did you ask what happened?" I asked her, knowing that she was going to take forever to calm down…

**Megan**

"Because…wait, is that you Dannie?" I asked, the Mudkip. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!! I'M DAN!!" Yep, that was him, even though the badge on a cloth tied around his neck made that obvious "But you're a Mudkip!" "Yea, and you're a Chikorita." It countered. Well, it DID have a point there. I did feel kind of funny, I was standing on 4 legs, my skin was green (EWW!), and I did look like one in the lake, no, puddle… giant puddle………… "Wow, you calmed down 100 times sooner than I thought you would, you know that?" The Mudkip said, "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked it- no, Dan. "It means that I knew you were going freak out like this, but you calmed down rather quickly so-" "HOW CAN I BE CALM?! I'M A CHIKORITA!! I'M AN ANIMAL THAT IS NOT REAL!! And, YOU'RE NAKED!!" "I'm wearing a scarf, so that's not true, but you're naked too, but I'm not fre-" "YOU'RE SICK!! I'M NAKED, AND YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME! HOW CAN YO-" "THAT"S ENOUGH!! YOU'RE NOT HUMAN RIGHT NOW, SO WHY ARE YOU FREAKING OUT?! HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A POKÉMON WITH CLOTHES ON?! WILL YOU JUST CALM DOWN FOR THE LOVE OF-" "Jeez, can you guys give it a rest?"

While we were arguing, a Pikachu had stumbled into the clearing. "I mean come on, who needs an alarm clock with you two arguing?" "Mike, is that you?" the Mud- Dan asked, "Yea, what gave that away?" "Your voice, plus what you're carrying." He had a point there; Mike was the only one within 200 miles of our hometown that had a custom designed hat and shoulder bag, though he was wearing it like a backpack. "All right, now that you've had your argument time, can we focus on finding out what happened?" The Pik- Mike asked. "I'd rather find the others first." The M- Dan replied. "How about we just TRY TO GET BACK TO NORMAL instead?" I put in. They were silent for a while, then "HA HA- HA HA HA HA HA HA HA- HA!!" They were LAUGHING at that! "'Get back to normal' that's rich!" the- Mike said between his chuckling. "HAHA- HAHA- HAHAHA-" "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO!? YOU'RE POKÉMON, YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF WHERE EVER, AND YOU'RE NAKED!! HOW CAN YOU BE LAUGHING?!" I yelled at them. "Three things: 1) You've been awake for ten minutes, how can you still be freaking out? 2) I'm wearing my hat, so I'm not naked, and Dan's wearing a scarf so neither is he. 3) You expect to be able to turn back in about half an hour after transforming? Haven't you ever played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon? You're crazy." Mike said with an irritated tone. _They're the crazy ones. No one can stay calm in a situation like this. I'm going to have to do better if I'm going to knock some sense into them_…

**Mike**

Dan was caring about the others, Meg was freaking out, I was starving, and everyone else was still to be found. Don't you just love it when that happens? "So, Mike, what do you got in your pack?" Dan asked me, "Everything I could fit: my calculator, my hiking gear (This includes rope, tools, compass, and my trail mix. In case you're wondering, I got it for a family vacation and decided to take them with me incase we got lost (which we do a lot) looking for lost pets (we're the children's police, remember?)), and my watch and hat. Oh, and also my Pokepedia (Pokémon encyclopedia, I was planning to sneak a little playing in that night when everyone else was asleep) and Gameboy. "Want some of my trail mix?" "No thanks, I just had a candy bar so I'm not hu-" "HOW CAN YOU BE THINKING ABOUT FOOD AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!" "You're starving right now, aren't you?" Dan asked Meg… Grumble… "Thought so, here…" I handed her some trail mix. "I'll eat my own food, thank you very much." She said, walking over to her pile… "Umm…" She had just realized that she didn't have fingers (as expected, she's so predictable sometimes). "Here…" I pulled out her stuff: makeup, a bag of chips, some money (again, as expected), a mirror (I paused when I saw my reflection- it was weird seeing my face clearly, with the cheeks, ears, and fur), and a cell phone (she took one to the camp-out? And I thought _I_ couldn't be taken away from my electronics). I opened the chip bag, the old-fashion way- BANG!! Chips everywhere!! "DID YOU HAVE TO POP IT?!" "Yea, because I can't get a proper grip on it" The chips were everywhere, on the ground, in the puddles, and even in the trees. We couldn't get some of them (I was the only one who could climb, and I hadn't adjusted to being a Pikachu enough yet to do it), and others were soggy from the puddles, but Meg managed to get enough to fill her stomach, though she complained that they tasted two years expired (I don't think Chikorita's eat chips, but I wasn't about to tell her that after all that complaining). Dan went looking for the others (promising not to go too far), and I munched on my trail mix, though I could only eat the nuts and raisins (everything else didn't taste so good).

After awhile, I was picking up the last of the chips (didn't want to make an odor from rotting chips), Meg was mumbling and pacing (and stumbling), and Dan? He was still looking for- "Found one!" Dan called about 40 feet from the clearing. We ran (in Meg's case, stumbled) over to him and there it was: a bundle of clothes with a lump in the middle. "Women's clothes, too big for Mil, It's Jess." Dan said. "Is she going to panic, or accept it?" Meg asked (good, she was accepting the situation, which is a big thing for her). "In the middle, She'll jump, then calm down" I said. "Mike, give me a hand here, she's a lot harder to pull out than Meg was." Dan said. With a little effort (and some cheering from Meg ("Get her out of there or I'll pound you two 20 feet under the soil!")), we managed to pull Jess out, as a Torchic. "What do we do? Look into her eyes, pull her in front of a puddle, or let her find out for herself?" Meg asked "She's a fire-type, so a puddle would be stupid, and she'll pound us if we don't tell her, so we better just tell her when she wak-"The Torchic's eyes opened, looking straight at me………"AH!!"…… "Wow…She calmed down faster than me!" Dan said. "Dan? A Mudkip? But that means… (she looked down)…I'M A TORCHIC!!" "Yea and I'm a Pikachu, Meg's a Chikorita, and Dan's a Mudkip. What else is new?" I said. "OK, any idea what happened to us? " She asked. "HOW CAN YOU BE CALM LIKE THAT IN ONLY TEN SECONDS?!" "Don't look at me. Any ideas Mike?" Dan replied. "HOW SHOULD HE KNOW?!" "I think it had something to do with the shooting stars, but I don't know anything after that." Mike answered. "YOU'RE ALL MAD!! YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT HOW WE GOT HERE AND WE'VE ONLY BEEN HERE AN HOUR NOT COUNTING DAN!!" "Hey, where's everybody else?" Jess asked. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?!" I replied, "We're still looking and for them-" "YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!!" "Meg, are you still panicking?" Jess asked. "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO YOU?!" "I'll take that as a yes." "Oh-"…bump… "Meg fainted from herself, she REALLY needs some training" I joked, and got a few chuckles for it.

"That's a relief, no more whining, for about ten minutes." Dan said, "All right, Mike, look in Jess's stuff for something useful; Jess, we're looking for the others." With that, they took of, went around a tree, and "OOFF!" They ran right into another bundle. "Boy's clothes, too big for Sam, its John." Jess said. "Give me a hand here -er- wing ……I'll do it myself." Dan said. Meanwhile, I was busy getting Jess's stuff to the clearing: hair pins, water bottles, some string, earrings, some paper and pencils (she's an artist in training), and a spoon…OK, why a spoon? It's her good luck charm: green never was her favorite color, so she prefers non-clover charms, but our poor town doesn't have anything else…… Yes, I don't have a clue either. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Dan and Jess with a Treecko (a grass-type gecko Pokémon) that just opened its eyes… "WOAH!" "OK John, just stay calm-" "COOOOLLLL!!" John wasn't upset with this, he was having a blast! "What's the ruckus? Oh! John, YOU'RE A TREECKO!!" Meg was up. "HOW CAN YOU BE HAPPY ABOUT THIS?!" She yelled, noticing his happy face. "Um…" "For once I agreed with her." I said, "_I'm _not even jumping with joy. Why is it such good news?" "Er… I've kind of dreamed about this happening…"…BAM! We're all on the ground. We replied: Dan-"ARE YOU SERIUOS?!" Meg-"YOU'RE CRAZIER THAN THOSE TWO!!" me-"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" and Jess- "FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, ARE YOU NUTS?!" After we finished yelling at him, I took the stuff from his pile: paper and pencils (for his jokes), some fruit, and a walking stick (John's the adventurous one). I knew this was going to get crazy after that, and we hadn't found Sam or Mill yet. Everyone was worried about what to do now, but I was worried about the future, and what we were going to do…


	4. Chapter 2: The Gang's all Here

**Chapter 2: The Gang's All Here**

**Dan**

"Has anyone tried out their new bodies yet?" Mike asked Meg and me. We were in a small cave we found about a five-minute walk north from the clearing. It wasn't a big cave, but it was big enough for all our stuff, beds (made from our clothes), tablecloth (for a table), a small fire (we didn't have one yet, but we put a bunch of sticks together so all we needed was a flame, though Jess couldn't use her fire sac yet) and plenty of room left for everyone: a corner for Meg to mumble in, a corner for all machines (lucky Mike and John, they're the only ones who can use 'em), walking space for pacing and thinking, and room to store our food and water, which were the water bottles, the fruit, and Mike's half-eaten bag of trail mix, not nearly enough for five (hopefully seven) Pokémon. "Yea, I think we all started using them since we got here." I replied. "No, no, I mean USING them, like doing moves, using new senses, wagging your tail, that kind of stuff." "No, I haven't tried moving my tail-" "That sounds REALLY creepy you know, 'my tail'." Meg interrupted. The three of us were organizing the stuff while Jess and John were looking for Mil and Sam, as well as food.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, again" I said, "At least I'm pointing things out at all! You're still not worried about what could happen to us, Sugar, or Sam!" "What do you mean?" I asked. "I mean, we're Pokémon, we're in the Pokémon world, we've haven't found Sugar-" " "-Mil-" "or Sam yet, THEY COULD BE CAPTUERED AND TAKEN ON A POKÉMON JOURNEY AS POKÉMON!! THEY'RE TOO YOUNG TO EXPERIENCE THAT!!" "How do you know we're in the Pokémon world?" Mike said, "If we were, there'd be Pokémon everywhere, there'd be tons of noise, and there'd probably be foot prints all over the place, but there're no foot prints, there's no noise, and aside from each other, we haven't seen a single Pokémon. So there's no way-" "THEN THEY COULD BE FOUND, TAKEN, AND EXPERIMENTED ON BY SOME WEIRD SCIENTIST THAT THINKS THEY'RE MOSTERS!!" "Again, NO! If we were on earth, we would have heard birdsong, but its quiet, no birdsong, Pokémon or otherwise." I put in, "THAN WHERE DO YOU THINK WE ARE?!" "I don't know, some dream world perhaps?" Mike said, "Well, we were hit by stars, so maybe we're dead?" I suggested. "WANNA TEST THAT THEORY?!" she said, giving me a deadly look. "If looks could kill, I'd be dead already." I joked, getting Mike to chuckle.

"Honey, I'm ho- (SMACK) OW!!" "This is no time for jokes, John." Jess and John were back. "TELL THAT TO THESE TWO!!" Meg roared. "Zip it, Meg." Jess replied with a cool look. "Any luck?" I asked, "Yea, we found some berry bushes about two minutes west of here (pulls some berries out of his pack), we don't have to worry about starving, but no luck with Sam or Mil." He replied sadly. "I hope they're OK…" Meg said. "Oh, don't worry, they'll be fine! This won't be the first time they're lost in the woods and alone, remember?" Mike said, "Yea, I remember." Meg said (for those wondering, it started raining while looking for a missing dog causing a small flood in the woods. After it died down, we were all over the forest, and Mil and Sam were cut off from us for three hours. They handled the situation rather well, once they calmed down. Ironically, the dog got back home two minutes after it started raining, though its owner still paid us for going after it (we only charge the BIG jobs)) "I wonder where they are right now?" I said. _I wonder what they'll do when they find out_…

**Sammy**

Where was I? I felt so small, and weak. I was so tired, and I couldn't move. It was so dark… so weird… so scary… so, what do I do now? I couldn't feel my arms or legs, but I felt something wrapped around me, like a loose blanket, and I saw a small light. I wiggled to the light, and went into it. I was in the woods, but something was wrong. There were no birds, it was thicker than our woods, and it was so BIG! I looked at my body; it was dark blue with red spots! My belly, arms, and legs were still tan, but my arms and legs were stumps! "WHERE ARE MY FINGERS?!" I yelled, but then noticed that I'd said "Cynda-cyndaquil!" At the same time! "What's happened to me? Oh-No, I'm still talking funny…Oh-oh-oh… what's going on? DAN?! JESSEY?! MILLIE?! ANYONE?!" I was scared, very scared.

Then I saw a big puddle. I waddled over to it on my stumpy legs, and looked at my reflection……………… AAAHHHHH!! I WAS A CYNDAQUIL!! I started dancing around a little, panicking, hoping that I was having a bad dream. I WAS A CYNDAQUIL!! I looked like one; I felt like one; I was one. Pokémon are not real, but I was one! I stopped running, sat down, and started crying. I was a Pokémon… It, just can't……… NOOOOOOOOOO!! WAH!!

After a while (I lost track), I calmed down a little. Dan always said it wasn't a good idea to panic in any situation, including this one. Wait- DAN! He must be here, and everyone else to! I just had to find them! But, what if they think I'm a Pokémon? "I know: I'll put some clothes on! Cyndaquil don't wear clothes!" I walked (I still waddled a little, but that's normal for a Cyndaquil. How did I know that? I love Pokémon, and knew a lot about them) over to my clothes, but they were too big! _THINK Sam, THINK! You're a Cyndaquil, and Cyndaquil are smaller than people. _I started searching them for my stuff. It was all there: some string, my mini-bag, a bag of candy, and a pocket-checkers game (It's really a chess board, but I don't know how to play chess). I put everything in my mini-bag and put it on. _Wait, Cyndaquil have flames on their backs. _I turned it around, so I was carrying it on my tummy. I started to walk away when I heard a rustle behind a bush. _It might be one of them. _I went over, looked behind the bush, and saw a pile of clothes with a lump in it.

Then I heard "Hello? Anyone there?" "Millie, is that you?" "Sammy?" The lump moved! It moved to the head hole and a furry face poked out. It was an Eevee. "Sammy, where are yo- WAH! A CYNDAQUIL!" "No, Millie, it's me, Sam!" "What? You're a Cyndaquil? But that means," (she looked down)… "I'M AN EEVEE!!" "CALM DOWN MILLIE! Would Dan want you to panic at a time like this?"………… "No, he wouldn't …Sammy, what are we going to do?" "We're going to find the others, and get back to normal!" "YA!" She was feeling better now, and helped me get her stuff together (though she didn't have any hands): a mirror (she took that right away, wanting to see her face), more candy, a compass (after our adventure in the woods Mike insisted that we have one), and a toy pony. "How are we going to carry this?" Millie asked me. "Well…" Then we heard "SAM!! YOU AROUND HERE?!" "OVER HERE!" The bush shook a little and a Mudkip came out. "Is that you Dan?" Millie asked. "Of course! Don't you recognize me?" Yep, that was him. "you found us!!" "Alright, calm down. MIKE! FOUND 'EM!!" "Coming!" A Pikachu came through after Dan, Mike. "A Cyndaquil and an Eevee? Rather appropriate for you two." "Alright, enough already, come on, give me a hand here."…

**(Ten minutes later…)**

… "Hail! Hail! The gang's all here! Leave your worries at the door for they're not going anywhere! Hail! Hail! The gang's all here! When the going gets tough I expect my friends to be there! ……HA HA-HA!!" We were having a party! Mike and John were singing, Millie and Meg were hugging (well, as best two Pokémon without arms can), Dan and I were talking about what happened, and we were eating all our candy (we threw away some of it though, didn't taste very good). We started at sunset, and when we finally calmed down it was dark outside the cave, and the stars were out! "Well, that proves we're not on earth anymore. The ones there all fell out of the sky." Millie said. Then Meg said, "That reminds me, anybody know-" "What happened to us? No, we don't-" "NO!! What happened to everyone in the neighborhood, or the whole world for that matter?"……… "Ya know, we haven't given them a thought since-" "HOW CAN YOU FORGET ABOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD?! WHAT ABOUT OUR FAMILIES AND FRIENDS?! WHAT ABOUT OUR CLASSMATES?! WHAT ABOUT THE WHOLE WORLD?!" …………………………………

"Meg's right, for once. What's going to happen to everyone?"…

**John**

After that, we pretty much got lost in ourselves. Dan, Jess, and I were pacing, Mil and Sam tried brainstorming, Meg was mumbling at us, and Mike was DEEP in thought. Meg did nothing, Mil and Sam couldn't make something that made sense, Mike was too focused to be bothered, and the rest of us could only guess. After awhile, we all gave up and decided that Mike was the only one who could figure this out, and we kept ourselves busy. Meg started making uniforms (she just couldn't stand everyone being naked a minute longer), though she couldn't make anything more complicated than a big piece of cloth. Mil, Jess, and Sam started sorting all our stuff out (we had a lot now). Dan made a map of the landscape we'd seen so far (including where we all showed up), and I made this handy chart for those of you who keep getting confused (OK, I really just sat back and watched, but that would be lazy, and I'm not the lazy type):

**Dan - Mudkip **

**Meg - Chikorita **

**Mike - Pikachu **

**Jess - Torchic **

**John - Treecko**

**Sam - Cyndaquil **

**Mil - Eevee**

"All right, any ideas, Mike?" Dan asked. "A hunch, but does anyone have any ideas, guesses, or things they'd like to say?" He asked, looking at all of us. "Here, look at this… (gives Mike his map)…we all showed up at the same positions that we were at the camp out when the stars hit." And he was right, though the distance between us was greater than at the camp-out. "Also, the order we woke up and the order we were hit is the same: me, 5 seconds before Meg, who was hit a little later than you, Mike, than Jess, just a hair before you, John, and Sam were 10 seconds after that, and Mil was 5 seconds after that. We woke up: me, an hour before Meg, who was about 15 minutes after you. Jess was about 10 minutes after Meg, and John about 1 minute after her, and Sam woke up 2 hours after me, and Mil, about 1 hour after Sam." These were interesting facts, to say the least." "Let's see, 5 seconds equals an hour, a foot equals a yard…divide by…than add…" "There he goes again, the living calculator. Never met a problem he couldn't-" "GOT IT!! It's a matter of dimensions!"… "You mean-" "NO!! I mean for where everyone is going to show up, not what world we're in!"… "So… You going to tell us?"

"I'll spare you the details, but it's going to be a few hours 'till my family shows up. We were hit first, we know that, the hits were falling in a wave, we know that, and every 5 seconds that pass on earth, an hour passes here." "I get it," I said, "Well I don't, so tell me in English." Meg complained, "When you throw a rock into the water, the ripples spread out, right? Same basic principle." "OK, what do we do about it? It could take weeks for everyone in the neighborhood to get here, and people are going to be showing up all the time till then, so what do we do?" Jess asked. "We do what we always do: help those lost and suffering." "We can't keep them here, there's not enough room." "We'll put every thing in place, and then we can build shelters outside- YES, WE **ARE **CAPABLE OF THAT MEG!!- and get everyone together." "We don't have enough supplies for-" "MEG!! THERE ARE BERRY BUSHES JUST 2 MINUTES AWAY, AND THERE'S PUDDLES OUTSIDE EVERY MORNING FROM THE DEW!! Anything else to complain about?" He said, giving Meg a VERY dark look. "No, I'm done." "Good." And with that, we spent the rest of the night getting organized, and getting a fire going (Cyndaquils put out flames when they're excited or spooked as a reflex, so all we had to do was make Sam jump while he was in front of our stick pile). At midnight (we have Mike's watch), we got into our clothes- er- homemade beds, and went to sleep. Yea, we were Pokémon, we were in the middle of who knows where, we had a whole lot to do tomorrow, but, we were fine, and we were ready…


	5. Chapter 3: Brother like Brother

**Chapter 3: Brother Like Brother…**

_June 19, 1:20 AM (I think)_

_Man, I CAN'T SLEEP!! Aug, why me? No, I don't mean the fact that I'm a Pokémon, in the middle of wherever, or the fact that we have absolutely no idea what's going on, the fact that I'm a Mudkip! Sure, I like Mudkips, but IT"S SO HARD TO GET ANY SLEEP AS ONE!! Roll onto side, pain in gill; other side, pain in other gill; on back, pain in dorsal fin and my tail (Meg's right, that DOES sound weird); on stomach, comfy, but awkward feeling. I mean, come on, John, Meg, and Sam are lying on their sides, Jess, Mike, and Mil are curled into balls, BUT I CAN'T!! Sigh, I couldn't sleep anyway, too many, too weird, too scary nightmares. NO, I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THEM!! Anyway, I've decided to start a journal for this adventure, so I'm going to put in our progress. We've got a ton of stuff, but no idea how to use some of it: we used our clothes for beds, blankets, towels (we still need to take baths), and a table cloth (we used a giant boulder for the table); the rope, pins, and string are aside for when we need them (I know we will); the electronics are set aside for entertainment (lucky Mike and John, they're the only ones with hands! Oh, and we weren't worried about the power, Mike's a living recharger, if we find a way to hook him up with it); the mirrors were put in a corner of the cave for anyone who wanted to get a proper look at themselves (which was pretty much everyone); the water bottles were for, well, water storage; and everything else was in a corner remaining to be decided. I wonder what Mike's family is going to do when they-wait-MIKE'S PARENTS WERE AT THE DANCE IN THE TOWN HALL (funny how our town has one when it can't afford an orphanage)!! SHOOT!! THAT MEANS THAT EVERY ADULT IN TOWN WILL BE ABOUT A WEEK BEHIND THE FURTHEST HOUSE IN THE NIEGHBORHOOD!! WHO'S THE PEA-BRIAN THAT BUILT THE TOWN HALL 3 MILLES OUT OF TOWN?! Man, what about Mike's little brother, Tom? What is he going to do in this situation when he finds out his parents aren't going to be here for about a week? Better ask Mike when they're going to hit town hall... -Dan, Mudkip_

**Dan**

I was the first one up. The first thing that popped into my head was "_What a weird dream." _Then I looked down…SHOOT!! THAT WASN'T A DREAM!! Looking around, I remembered everything, including to keep quiet (Meg, you're going to scare the pants- no, fur, off Mil and Sam when you wake up). I tiptoed over to Mil and shook her awake. "Wha-"I put my front paw over her mouth "ssshhhh!!" She nodded, and went to wake up Mike while I went to Sam. Then I got Jess, but before Mil could get John "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" "YYAAA!!" Bang! "OW!! MEG!!" Here's what happened: Meg woke up and screamed, causing John to jump into the cave roof, banging his head. After holding down John ("I'm going to get you for this!!") and calming down Meg ("NONONONONONONONONONONONONO!!"), we made arrangements for the day: Mike: work out when everyone's going to show up; John: area mapping; Jess: find more supplies; Mill and Sam, get more berries from the bushes; me: look for Tom (he should be here soon); and Meg- "I'm not doing anything till I finish these uniforms!!" "You know what, forget it. I only wanted you to organize everything. And besides, why do we need uniforms?" "WE'RE NOT ALL BOYS!!" "Technically, none of us are." "AAHH!!"–Bam.

"There she goes again. All in favor of doing it just to keep her quiet raise your hand-er-paw-or wing…JUST RAISE A LIMB! ... 6-0, no surprises there." In the end, I settled for my custom scarf, Mike took his hat, Jess made a sort of headband and (with a little help) tied it around those three feathers on top of her head, and everyone else put scarves around their necks (we slipped one around Meg's). Later…"YOU CALL THAT CLOTHING?!" "Yep." "HOW CAN YOU SETTLE FOR JUST A SCARF?! YOU'RE ALL CRAZY!! WE NEED-" "THAT'S IT MEG!! YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN, YOU CAN GO AND TAKE YOUR CHANCES WITH WHATEVER IS OUT THERE!! IF YOU'RE GOING TO STAY HERE, ZIP IT!!" Here's a little warning for you: when Jess loses her patience, you listen to her, period (John learned that the hard way. You'll have to ask him about that).

**(Three hours later…)**

John: "We have a proper map! Here's the deal: South-clearing; West-berry bushes; East-river about three minutes away; North-cliff, too high to climb without proper gear; Northwest/East-same as North; Southwest-forest too thick for travel; Southeast-really, really, REALLY big waterfall. Don't know what's further out there, and until we need to, I say we don't go further than that." "Agreed." Jess: "Haven't found anything, but got some vines from a tree in the Southeast." Sam: "Got enough berries for a week, and there's tons still in the bushes." Meg: "Everything's in place, but no idea what we're going to do with most of it." Me: "No luck, any news Mike?" Mike: "Yea, Tom should be here in… (looks at watch) …20 minutes, to the Southwest." "Alright, Mike, John, Jess, and me will go looking for Tom. Meg, Sam, and Mil, keep getting everything organized. We'll take my pocketknife, some berries, and bottle of water for Tom. Alright, let's move!!

**(Eight minutes later…)**

"I can see why you didn't want to come through here, John. It's nearly impossible to get anywhere!" Mike wasn't exaggerating, it WAS nearly impossible to get anywhere, we had to cut our way with my pocketknife, but have you ever cut through a thicket with a pocketknife? Didn't think so. "That's it, I can't take it anymore!" Jess flopped onto ground. The pocketknife wasn't working on the thicket in front of us. "There has to be an easier way." "There is, but I don't think-" "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'I DON'T THINK?" "I don't think John can do leaf blade yet."……………………… "We're doomed, the genius can't think of any-" "I think it's a good idea. Maybe not leaf blade, but perhaps another move? Mike, did you sneak your Pokepedia again?" "Er-" "Ok, anything we can use?" Mike pulled his pokepedia out of his pack and flipped through the pages. "…Ah ha! Torchics can use scratch at level 5, and I think that's what level we are."… "OK, any ideas on how to use moves?" ………………………………………………… "FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!! ANY GUESSES, IDEAS, OR POSIBILITIES?!" "Say the move?" "Think of the move?" "Just try and do it?" We brainstormed for ten minutes, and nothing. What was my favorite idea? "Think about being dead?" I forget who suggested it, though the likeliest suspect would be John. "Come on guys, I don't want Tom to wake up alone, he's only 4!" Mike was getting worried, and that's the sign to hurry up. Suddenly, "I GOT IT!" I cried. "Jess, try focusing energy into your talon, and then slice through the thicket." "Ok, like this?" Her foot- no, talon, started glowing! Then-SWISH!-it cut through the thicket, revealing a bundle of clothes! "YES! We found him! He's your brother, Mike. You take care of him." Mike pulled the lump out, revealing a Pichu (the baby form of Pikachu). "Brother like brother." John joked, though he didn't get any chuckles.

"Tom…Tom, can you hear me?" Mike said to the little Pokémon. "By the way, anyone curious about what-" "Mike?" Tom moved a little…then opened his eyes. "Have you seen my brother mister Pikachu? (Mike's the gamer, and his brother often watches him play, but he's too young to realize Pokémon aren't real, well, that was until yesterday)" "Er…" "Hey! Why are you so big?" "I, uh…" "Why do I feel so funny?" "Well, see…" "Hey, how can you talk?" Yep, that was Tom alright, always asking questions. Then he looked down "Huh?" He looked behind him, saw his tail, and… "AAAAHHHH!! WWWAAAA!! WWWAAA!! I WANT MOMMY!! WWWAAA!!" Man, and I thought Sam was a crybaby. "Now, now, stay calm…" Mike picked up his little brother, rocked him in his arms, and sang to him (he asked me not to tell what he sang to you, for private reasons). After awhile, Tom calmed down. "Is that you, Mike?" "Yep. We're going to be ok." "I'd hate to interrupt this, but we need to get back to the cave. I have a funny feeling that Meg's causing trouble for Sam and Mil." I said. "Yea, and I've packed all his stuff, though all he has besides his clothes is a bag of cookies. Must have been sneaking a midnight snack." John put in. "Alright, let's go." Mike decided to carry Tom back to the cave, but it slowed us down (Pikachu can walk on two legs, but only very slowly).

**(That night…)**

After Tom got used to his new body, he was pretty happy about it, running around the cave. "Would you please stop, you're making my head spin." Meg said from the corner. We found her just about to cut up the tablecloth for uniforms and (since Jess knew how to do moves) made her, shall we say, have different ideas about clothing. We made Tom a head band and a bed from his clothes (his clothes were small, so that was all we made from them) and ate the cookies (they actually tasted BETTER than when we were human. I guess Pokémon like sugar). We also turned my marble bag into a pack, and Meg's make-up container into a portable box. Then we turned another corner into Mike study. He needed one for figuring out what to do with all our stuff, making our lives easier, and making room for when everyone else showed up (Mike predicted his next door neighbors, Sahara and Adam, would be here around noon tomorrow). And YES it took all day to do that!

"Now that we're organized, anybody curious about what Pokémon we are?"… "I MEAN WHY, NOT WHAT!!" "Oh… gender?" I guessed. "Likely." "Age?" Meg asked. "That's a given." Mike said, looking at Tom. "Family?" Jess said, looking at Mike and Tom. "Very likely." "Personality?" Sam put in. "Why couldn't you guys think like this back in the thicket, THEY'RE ALL LIKELY!!" Then John said, "What we ate for breakfast?"…………… "Scratch that." After half an hour of suggestions (and stupid ideas from John), we decided to hit the hay. Well, that was until Tom, Sam, and Mil were asleep. "Ok, Mike, any suggestions?" "Nothing, except maybe a half-baked guess that John would probably suggest." "HEY!!" "Ssshhhh!!" Tom wiggled, and then rolled over.

"Ok, as I was saying, the only idea would be that maybe something caused the stars to fall in from outside the atmosphere." "You mean aliens?" Meg looked worried about that. "Oh, so mankind has the technology to do this?" "Maybe, who knows what they do in that old top-secret base outside of town." John said, but he didn't look like he was really joking about that. "Yea, sure, that's really-" "Wait- remember that newsflash back in May? You know, the one about that weird message from space?" "I thought the government-" "I know the government said it was a prank, but what did it say again?" "I remember the first half: **Our world has come to an end, even now, the darkness is coming. We have destroyed ourselves; it is too late to save us. Our only hope for survival rests in our past, yet, we cannot**- that's all I got." "Maybe-" "Yyyaaaahhhh…" Meg was yawning, and I had to admit I was kind of tired. "Ok, we'll continue this tomorrow, but Mike, I want you to work on that message. It's the only thing that we've got on an answer, though it's not likely." "Right." With that, we all hit the hay, but I still couldn't sleep! UHG!! Man, are we ever going to get used to this?


	6. Chapter 4: Some kind of instincts

**Chapter 4: Some Kind of Instincts? **

_June 19-20 (Don't know if it's past midnight yet)_

_Sigh, I can't sleep. Why? Probably the work I have to do on that riddle, where and when everyone's going to show up, designing things to help us through this, and worrying about Tom. Oh, and Dan. He's tossing and turning, poor guy. The rest of us can lie down on our sides or curl up into balls and he can't. The stress with the whole thing probably doesn't help in the sleep department either. Anyway, I want to get my thoughts together so I'm putting in things that worry me at the moment. Let's see…senses…construction…family…yea, family. Once again, I don't know if I should be jealous or sorry for Dan for being an orphan. Sure, he doesn't have anyone to worry about, but he doesn't have anyone to comfort him either and even great leaders like him need someone to share their troubles with, and he's a father figure to us so he can't tell us, though we're the only one that would listen to him…_

_Anyway, the rest of us have families to worry about. Other than our parents (the rest of us have them), Jess has a brother, (don't know his name, she never talks about him and we've never gone to her house) me, I have Tom, Mil has an older sister, but she moved out last- SHOOT!! SHE WAS COMING TO VISIT THIS SUMMER!! Great, and I don't have a clue where she's going to show up-, but John, Meg, and Sam are single children. Man, what is going to happen to all of us? -Mike, Pikachu_

**Mike**

"Mike, wake up!" "uuuhhh…" "Come on, get up!" "Tom, just a little long- OW!! GET OFF!!" "Sorry!" Man, it's hard to sleep when your little brother is jumping on you. "Morning sleepy head!" "John, why are you up? Aren't you always the last one up?" "After yesterday, yea right." "Are you still jumpy about that?" Jess asked. Everyone was up before me except Meg and Dan, and we knew that Dan needed the sleep. It's not like we think he's doing all the work, but he always takes his job as leader too seriously and often seems like a father. He always feels responsible for everyone's trouble (when we were cut off from Sam and Mil, he looked like he hadn't slept for weeks). "Mike, can I wake the green lady up?" "No, Tom, that wouldn't be a good idea." I said. John added, "Yea, she can be a real- MIKE!! COVER HIS EARS, NOW!!" Meg was moving! "Wha-?" I clapped my ha- no, paws (What? We're trying to accept the situation, not deny it) over his ears as well as I could (you cover a Pichu's ears when you're only twice his size and I'll say I didn't try hard enough) and- "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"……………… "Mike, the green lady's scary." Nothing screams embarrassment like an insult from a 4 year old brother, especially when it's insulting Meg (we've all learned the hard way to never insult her. NOT TALKING ABOUT IT!!). "If you weren't only 4 years old I'd-" "Meg! Not in front of the kid!" Jess warned. "Grumble." Tom knew to keep away from her after that.

"Ok, seeing that Meg woke me up, what's for breakfast?"……… "How about some berries? Do we have a volunteer?"…… "I volunteer Meg." John said. "WHAT?!" "You do owe us for nearly ruining our tablecloth, and giving me such a headache. You also-" "FINE!" John (accidentally) discovered Meg's diary, and her darkest secret, and has been using it as a blackmail ever since, though (thank goodness) he only uses it when he REALLY can't take her anymore, and he gets a funny look in his eye when he's about to use it, YES, even when he has Treecko eyes. "Here goes… (Munch)…mmm…tastes pretty good actually." "Yay!" Tom jumped right into the pile and started wolfing them down. "Hey! You little-" "It's alright, Jess. The Pokepedia says that a Pichu can't eat a whole lot before-" "I'm full now." "-that."

After we finished eating, Dan gave us our assignments for the day: "Mil and Sam- replace the berries we lost this morning (which was about ½ the whole pile). John and Jess- further exploring, then go and look for Sahara and Adam, who should be showing up in the South West around noon (it was 9:00 at that moment), then come back for further instructions. Mike: keep doing your thing and find more answers. Mil: look up anything that might be slightly important to us in the Pokepedia. Tom: go to the mirrors and get a good look at yourself (he needed to fully understand what he was). Me: I have something to work on right now." That sounded interesting, but I stuck with my job, and went into my corner. "Mike, can you make some blueprints for a 2- ma- Pokémon shelter?" Dan whispered to me. "Ok, but what for?" "There's no way Sahara and Adam are going to fit in here, and they need a place to spend the night." "I see, but I'm going to have to put aside everything else to do that, and-" "Don't worry, there will be plenty of time for riddles after things calm down a little."… "Alright, I'll do it."

**Jessie**

"Man, I love the outdoors!" "Last I recall, I'm a girl, and I'm not a human." "Who said I was talking to you?" Smack! "OW! Cut that out!" "You cut it out." Dan's our leader, he knows us all really well, he makes great decisions, but he keeps forgetting how annoying John is when he's the only boy in a group (no, I don't have any idea either). Don't get me wrong, John's a great companion, just not when he's traveling. "When I learn bullet seed, you're going to pay for that!" "By then, I'd have learned flamethrower and, with a type advantage, that would flatten you." "Touché…… All right here we are." "Whoa!" The waterfall he mentioned was HUGE! It poured off the edge of the cliff like, well, a waterfall. "Great. They're going to end up down there, and there's no way we're going to get them." The bottom was around 100 yards down and the rock wall was perfectly smooth. "Don't worry, watch this." He started climbing down the wall! Within about 50 seconds he was at the bottom. "That's great lizard boy, but what about me?" "Three things: 1) I'm gecko, not a lizard. 2) You don't have to come down here right now and we can make ladder or something when we need you down here. 3) You're a bird, can't you fly?"…"GET UP HERE SO I CAN POUND YOU!!" "Make me!" And with that, he went off.

"Sigh, men. Don't think we can think for ourselves. Ok, (my talon started glowing) here we go!" Swish! Slice! I cut a vine loose from a tree, and it stretched all the way down, well, almost, about 7 feet off the ground. "Score one for the girls back home, whatever that means." I clapped my beak over the vine and, after a lame "Hope this works," jumped off the edge. I don't know how to put what I experienced right there, but here goes: Imagine having a pair of braces that stick out of your mouth and your friend is yanking on them, and you get about a fraction of what I felt on my beak. Uh, and I thought my beak couldn't feel anything, being the rock like stuff it's made of (I don't know, we never did biology in science class). My whole body was jarred instantly, and it just kept going! Suddenly, Click! My beck snapped shut! I was at the end of the vine. "AH!!" BAM!! ………"Ow." I didn't know what hurt more, my back from landing on it, my beak for closing so hard, or my whole body from the vine! I moved my weak body away from the waterfall and laid down.

After about 5 minutes, I was able to move again, though only slowly (that vine wore me out more than I thought it would) and started hobbling my way after John, when I heard a light pat, like something landing on the ground. _Either John's running away from me, or it's one of our neighbors._ I walked over to where the sound came from, and stumbled into a pile of clothes! "Yes! John, I found one!" I called. "Oh, why did I have to be one to lose my arms?" I couldn't pull the lump in the middle out with wings. Then John showed up. "What are you doing down- (SMACK! SMACK!) YOW!!" "That's for insulting my body and leaving me behind! Now get whoever this is out OR I POUND YOU BACK TO THE CAVE!!" "Oh, why me?" He pulled the bundle out, revealing a Taillow (a bird Pokémon, looks like a robin, with blue instead of brown feathers). "So… how old are Sarah and Adam again? How do we tell them?" "Sarah's 8, and Adam's 12, so, maybe just let them find out for themselves?" 'Yea, but let's be with them while they find out. They're going to lose it if they think they're alone in this. You stay here, I'll go look for the other one. Two reasons why me, before you ask: 1) I'm faster 2) I can get him or her out of his or her clothes. See ya!" He started running, BONK! "I think you would do better if you watched where you were going, and not banging your head into a tree." "Gee, thanks."

**(5 minutes later…)**

"Uh…" The Taillow was moving! "Great, you're up." "What happened? Why do I feel so funny? Wha- THE STARS! SARAH!" "Calm down! You-" "What the-" He (it was Adam, since he said "Sarah", not "me") looked at his body. "WHAT'S HAPPENED TO ME?! I'M A BIRD!!" "So what? So am I." "That's tru- YOU'RE A TORCHIC!! YOU'RE A POKÉMON!!" "So are you."…… "Is that you, Jessie?" "Yea, why do you ask?" "That's a relief, after watching your little camp burn down. Wait, if you were burned… but you're here… Sarah's here too! Where is she?" "John's looking for her, and we found you only 5 minutes ago." "WELL, HURRY IT UP!!" "Jeez, if you want us to go faster, use those wings of yours and get an air view of-" "YOU THINK I CAN FLY?!" "Yep, once you know how to-" "I JUST GOT HERE AND YOU EXPECT ME TO BE ABLE TO-" "THAT'S IT!! BE GRATEFUL WE'RE LOOKING AT ALL!! HOW ABOUT A THANK-YOU FOR TRYING?! WE HAVE ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH, WITHOUT LOOKING FOR YOU AND YOUR SISTER, AND WE COULD JUST LEAVE YOU HERE FOR A FEW HOURS, BUT _NO_, WE COME FOR YOU, THREE HOURS BEFORE YOU SHOW UP!! DON'T YOU THINK YOU SHOULD BE A _LITTLE_ GRATEFUL?!"………………… "WELL?!" "Sorry." "Thank-you. Was that so hard? Now, let's get those wings working, if not to find your sister than to get you back to the cave we're using since it's up a 100 yard cliff."

"Yea, especially since I found your sister." John was back, carrying a bundle of clothes, and he was with a Togetic (a Normal/Flying type. I don't know how to describe it, but it's white, and has angel-like wings), Sarah. "Hi, Jessie!" she said. "Hey, Sarah." (In case you haven't found out yet, Sarah and I are good friends) "Hey, Adam, you look good!" "Uh…" "It's ok, I've got wings too! See?" With that, Sarah jumped up and flew! Well, hovered for a little bit, then fell down. "Wow. How can you do that only 5 minutes after you got here?" "Easy. I just flap my wings. I can feel muscles on my back, and I just move them." "She's a very quick adapter. She can use her whole body, though she's been in it only for a few minutes." John put in. "She had to calm down first, didn't she?" Adam asked, no doubt jealous of his sister. John nodded, "My ears are still ringing."………… "Never mind. Anyway, she didn't have a whole lot of stuff with her, just some string and needles. She was sowing up her brother's pants again when the stars hit, and Adam doesn't have anything but his clothes."

"So, how do we get back to the cave? I can climb, Adam can fly, but Sarah can't use her wings well enough to fly, and how did you get down here anyway?" "I swung down on a vine, ok. Problem is, it's a one-way ride. The vine's 7 feet off the ground, and I had to use gravity to get down." "Maybe we can find another way up." Adam said. "Are you thinking of flying?" I asked. "I'm going to have to fly sooner or later, and I'm going to have to if I'm going back to your place, so let's get this over with." After about half an hour of ideas, suggestions, and theories (confound that lazy science teacher, we don't know anything about bird wings. Yes, I know we're dealing with Pokémon, but it's still the same thing, right?), we managed to get him off the ground, about 5 feet, with a running start, into a tree.

"Aug! This is hopeless!" "Sigh- wait, John, how did you know how to climb down a solid wall?" "Er…" "Well?" "Some thing in the back of my head told me how."……… "I'M NOT KIDDING!!" "No one said you were. Ok, hm…hey, how did Dan know how to do moves? Hmm………Hey, now that you mention it, I felt something in the back of my mind too." "What do you think? Some side effect about being Pokémon?" "Yep, most likely some kind of instincts."…… "Ok, Adam, try listening to your instincts." Adam closed his eyes…opened them, and his wings…jumped into the air, and flew! Within seconds, he was above the tree line. "YAHOO!! I'M FLYING!!" "Lucky." was all John could say. Adam flew around for a bit, then swooped down, landed too fast, and crashed into John. Bonk! "Watch it!" "Sorry. Man, that was COOL!! The wind, the excitement, the view-" Smack! "Ow! Why did you do that? Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, there's a hill to the West, and it leads to a clearing, and I saw a cave North of there, which I'm guessing is where we're going…………What? Why are you staring at me?" Sarah answered: "You can't tell the difference from left and right, but you just knew the direction everything is without a compass."……… "When we get back, we better ask Mike how serious these instincts are. There's no telling what could happen if we ignore them." John said. He was right, if these instincts could give Adam a perfect sense of direction, there's no telling what they could do…


	7. Chapter 5: Here's the Deal

**Chapter 5: Here's the Deal.**

**Dan**

I'm not the worrying type. Taking care of school bullies? No problem, going out in the rain for a job? Piece of cake, Sam and Mil getting lost in the woods? Nervous, but I kept my head, but getting Meg to stop whining? THAT'S something to worry about. "For the last time Meg, STOP TRYING TO GET A UNIFORM ON TOM!!" "Why should I? He's only 4, he needs to understand that wearing clothes is-" "NOT NECESSARY TO A POKÉMON!! HE HAS TO UNDERSTAND THAT HE'S NOT HUMAN NOW!! Besides, the way you're trying to put it on, I'm surprised his ears are still attached to his head!" Meg was trying to force it over his head, which was a step short of impossible with his big Pichu ears. "You have a better idea of how to get it on?" "Yes. How about YOU DON'T?!" "Would you please keep it down a little? I'm trying to work here!" Mike called from the corner. "I mean, come on, you two have been arguing for, what, 3 hours straight? Meg, would you just calm down? If you're SO determined, why can't you make your own uniform first? ("He's right you know." "Dan!") Do you have to use Tom? And, Dan, Aren't you supposed to be doing something? Last I recall-" "Alright, Alight, I get the idea!"

I was at the mirrors, trying to get a proper look at myself. Once again, I found myself playing with my orange star-shaped gills (by playing with I mean fiddling with them, not using them as toys!) "You know, I find myself weirder every time I look at myself." "Tell me about it, I've got a leaf sticking out of my head!" "Well I've got gills, a dorsal fin, and a tail that's not a little stump!" "Touché- HEY, WAIT A MINUTE! ARE YOU SAYING I DON'T HAVE AN ACTUAL TAIL?!" "YE-" "NOW JUST A MINUTE BUSTER!! My tail may not be as big as yours, BUT ITS STILL A TAIL!!"………………… "What?" "Meg, you realize that you just argued with me about the size of your tail, right?………………………………………… "Mike, what's going on?" Tom interrupted the silence. "I don't know, Tom, I don't know."

Then we heard a sound from outside. "General Dan, this is Sergeant John, mission accomplished." Typical, John treating me like a general. "If you're the sergeant, and Dan's the general, what does that make the rest of us?" Also typical, Jess's reply. "Wait for it." I whispered to Meg. "I told you already, Mike's the captain, you're the lieutenant, and everyone else is a private."… "You know what I'm going to do to you right now, right?" ("Tom! Close your eyes!") "Back home, you'd pound me into the soil. However, since you don't have hands to pound me with, you can't-" CLUNK!! "YYYOOOWWW!!" Instead of pounding him into the soil, she rammed him, head first, into the wall, HARD. "Humph. Never think you can get away with such insults, even here."

"Speaking of which, not that I want to interrupt this scene, any ideas on where here is?" Adam interrupted. "I'd rather find out what's going to happen to us." Sam argued. "How about where everyone's going to show up?" Jess wondered. "What about getting home?" Meg countered. "What was with the stars?" John pondered. "Why are we Pokémon?" Mill put in. "What about the instincts?" Sarah asked. "No, we need to get home." "Meg, we have more important things to-" "We have to be ready for the others when they get here." "WHEN they get here. 'Till then we-" "No! We need to-…" "But…" "We have to-…" You know what? I'm just going to skip the part were everyone, except Tom, Mike, and me, was trying to get their questions answered first. A quick glance at Mike was all I needed to know how much more he could take. I ran over to Tom, tried my best to cover his ears, and braced myself. You see, Mike has a little 'problem' when he's pushed to the edge, and you could see him ready to bust. _3, 2, 1, _"WOULD EVERYBODY PLEASE JUST STOP TALKING!!" (It might not look like it in typing, but that yell was so loud, we could see the sound waves that made it. (Ok, maybe not, but it was VERY loud!!)) "Look, I know there's a lot to find out, but I can only answer so much, and only one at a time. We'll start with the stars, since they happened first, and we'll go from there."………… "I'm done, you can relax." "Whew!"

**Mike**

After asking Sahara and Adam a few questions and putting their facts with ours, I got ready for my big speech. "Alright, this is only my best guess, but here's the deal: Using the information from the top-secret space message, what we saw, and Adam's report, I'd have to say the stars, weren't really stars. Who knows why? (Jess, Meg, Adam, and I raised our hands-er- limbs, John didn't, and Sam, Mil, Sarah, and Tom were too young) Well, that answers who pays attention in science class ("Hey! You know how hard it is to listen to Mr. Beaker yap on and on and on…" "We get the idea.") A star is, basically, a giant ball of fire, which is what came crashing down on us, but a real one is HUGE, and one would have been enough to incinerate the entire planet. The ones that hit us were about the size of a bowling ball, not enough to start a proper sized fire." "So, what were they?" "I don't know.

"Moving on, where are we? Adam answered that, because he saw our camp-out in flames. That means that we're not on earth anymore, or we're being burnt to a crisp."………… "Even if that's the case, we're not dead. We can't be, because the after life (whatever it is) would have a lot of people here already, and we're the only ones here, and it can't be the Pokémon world because there's no bird song or cricket, night or day, Pokémon or otherwise. It can't be some dream either, seeing as how we can feel, taste, and smell everything here, not just see and hear. What's my guess? It's some kind of alien virtual reality, but that's just my guess." "So, there are really aliens involved." "No, because Pokémon are, well, used to be, a human-made game, TV show, cards, and other things, so unless the people who made Pokémon are aliens ("Duh-" BONK!! "OWWW!!"), there's no way aliens could use them for some kind of virtual reality. By alien I meant unknown, not life from space. Oh, and yes, I have no idea why Pokémon, sorry."

"Next, judging by how many stars we saw falling, the whole neighborhood, the so called 'top-secret' base, and town hall, which isn't exactly a 'town' hall, are going to be hit, at least. If you ask me, the whole planet's going to be involved. ("Does that include the moon? Everyone knows there's a nuclear bomb base there-" BONK!! "AAAAHHH!! STOP DOING THAT!!" "Then stop the bad jokes.") I also have some bad news, no adults are going to show up for weeks after the neighborhood's finished." "WHAT?!" "There was a town meeting that night, remember? We're on our own for a while. ("Guess we can stay up as late as we want now-" BONK!! "UUUUHHHHH!!") At any rate, I'm thinking a steady increase in the number of houses showing up everyday, starting with two tomorrow, three the day after, four after that, and so on. I'm thinking the Tepy twins (they're incredibly shy, and they always stick together) and the Michels (a pair of hot-headed tough guys) will be here sometime tomorrow, so, whether or not you want to, we're going to go out and get them. "Aaawww" (no one minds the twins, but the hot-heads are one of our constant hassles. You know, bullying.) As for getting home………I don't have a clue. Sorry Meg, but how am I supposed to know how to get home if I don't know where home is?

"And finally, and most importantly, these instincts everyone's fussing about. They're not dangerous, so stop worrying about losing our humanity. ("Whew!!") But that doesn't mean we can ignore them. If we lose ourselves, whether from our body's desires, hunger, or letting our guard down, we'll likely lose control over our bodies 'till whatever is driving the instincts is taken care of, or no longer there. ("Gulp…") With that in mind, we should be careful, and know what could cause such a situation. For example, Dan is a Mudkip, so when it rains, we'll probably find him dancing around outside like a maniac." …………………… "I'm serious. It doesn't matter whether you're strong and powerful or weak and shy. If the situation has an important role with your body, you're going to lose it."……………… (Sigh, everyone looks like he gave them a death sentence or something.) "This doesn't mean the instincts are dangerous, it just means that we are going to find ourselves doing weird or crazy things, like Mil is right now."

Everyone turned to Mil, and saw her running around in circles, chasing her tail. Once she realized we were looking at her, she stopped, looked at us, and said, "Why are you guys staring at me?" ……………………… Tom, once again, broke the silence. "Mike, I'm scared…WHA!!" "YAH!!" "AHH!!" "WHA!!" BONK!! "OOWW!!" As Tom started to tremble, sparks shot out of his cheeks, zapping himself, and the electricity caused Dan to instinctively jump back, into Sam, making his flames light up in surprise, making Meg and John instinctively jump back from the flames, into each other, head first, all because a 4 year-old was scared from a six year-old chasing her tail, with nobody aware of what they were doing till they stopped…………………………………………………………………… "John, I think you turning into a Treecko has made your head a target for being beat up." Good old Jess, able to make everyone relax a little when things are really tense. Once the laughter (And counter jokes) died down, I made an announcement: "We're starting our own construction company."

"Huh? Why?" "Adam, we can barely all fit in here, and that's because we put our beds ("Humph." "Give it a rest Meg.") up against the wall. How can you and Sahara possibly live in here with us, let alone when everyone else shows up?" "I think that's a great idea, but how are we going to build a house?" "Yah, especially since none of us are strong enough to chop down a tree, let alone cut it into a house." "Ok, so maybe it's not really a house, more of a shelter to keep you out of the rain at night. All we need to make those are some leaves, bark, branches, and rocks, all of which we can find just outside our cave. Everyone but Meg, Sarah, Sam, Mil, and Tom are going to help with this, and they're going to sort out Adam and Sahara's stuff." I'm going to skip how hard it still was to make the shelter when only half of us had opposable thumbs, but in the end, we managed to finish making it right outside of the cave, and once we finished making their beds, we moved them in -er- out. We agreed that the string was precious and we would use it ONLY when we knew we needed to, and that Meg couldn't use it unless she was carefully watched. For uniforms, we made scarves for them since ribbons and headbands would get in the way of their flying.

After that, we spent what little day light we had left getting used to our Pokémon instincts. We found out quickly how to do the rest of our moves (up to this point we could only use moves like scratch) and then used our new senses. Dan's didn't change much, but after some reassuring, found that his senses are even better underwater. He also found out how to use his gills, and was able to access his sonar, though not very well yet. John already knew how to use his body. Jess, Sarah, and Adam achieved complete control over their wings. Sam and Jess found out how to use their fire sacs. Meg found out how to use her leaf and her sweet scent (we also found out that Adam was attracted to that scent, and that he had been next to her since he arrived). Tom and I could use our electric sacs, and got used to the 2-4 legs thing, and everyone got used to their new sense of balance (whether from talons to paws to 4 legs) and their tails, though Mil still chased it now and again.

**(Later that Night…)**

Once all the younger Pokémon (Sam, Mil, Tom, and Sarah) were fast asleep, we started discussing what to do with the near future. Well, at least we were SUPPOSED to. "For the last time, I'm not going to waste a few berries for a stupid prank!! It's bad enough that you want to find out if your sister will sleep walk as a Pokémon, but using our precious material to guide her instinct driven nose into a puddle to wake her up in the morning? I think that's a little harsh."  
"Come on, you know you want to." "No, I don't." "Yes you do." "No I don't!!" "Yes you do." "NO I DON'T!!" "Yes you do!" Smack!! Smack!! "Will you both just zip it before you wake someone up?" "Sorry." "Anyway, back on track, the plan is: Adam will do a complete area search looking for the Tepy twins, who will be showing up on the other side of the river to the East, with me and Sarah following from the ground because we're the only ones who can get across the river. Meg, John, and Jess are going after the Michels because they're the only ones who can handle them who don't have another job to do. Mike, you are going to stay here. I need you to find someway for the twins to get across the river, since for all we know they could be turned into fire-types. Also, I want Sam and Mil to get us more berries, and hide them somewhere so the Michels don't make the rest of us starve. Any questions?"

"Yah, why exactly to we have to take care of them? I mean, this could practically be a vacation if they weren't here."…"He's right you know."… "I know, that's why we're building their shelter quite a few feet away from the cave. We're also going to, if we can, swipe as many of their 'inventions' as we can (their 'inventions' are special torture devices (sling shots that shoot multiple stones, stink bombs with unique stinks, liquefied itching powder, etc.) and almost everyone has experienced one of them.) The whole thing will be a little hazy, and we'll tell them they didn't have any with them when they were hit. Besides, if we don't do anything, they'll come and torture us WITH their 'inventions' and when we're not expecting them, or as what they are. You know what they say: "Better to fight the enemy you know then the enemy you don't know." "Anyway, I think it'd be a good idea to have an escort alongside the younger kids at all times after this." "Yah." "Agreed." "Good idea." After we said our goodnights, everyone went to their beds, and Adam went outside to his sister. Everyone was asleep in a few seconds, except Dan and me. He got up, tiptoed over to me, and whispered: "Any ideas on what Pokémon the twins and the hot-shots are going to be?" "We'll just wait and see what happens tomorrow. Oh, and use your instincts so you can get some sleep tonight." "Thanks for the tip, mister obvious."


	8. Chapter 6: Yep Big Time

**Chapter 6: Yep. Big Time**

_June 21_

_Gah, this stinks! Why do the Michels have to come here? We have our hands full (even if we don't have any) as it is with the supplies, the neighbors, and the whole Pokémon situation. That reminds me, why Pokémon? Mike said he had no idea and he's the smart one. Well, since I can't sleep, might as well try. Let's see…nope, I got nothing. Man, how does he do it? Hmm…wait a minute, how did the rest of that "alien" message go? Now that I mention it, we never figured out what the rest was. Wait…I'M DISTRACTING MYSELF!! Gah, this REALLY stinks! Still, I can't help but wonder, what did it mean, __**our hope rests in our past**__? Time travel? No, that doesn't exist, but, then again, neither do Pokémon, yet here I am- I'M DISTRACTING MYSELF AGAIN!! Wait, wasn't I writing about Pokémon first? GAH!! THIS STINKS!! That's it! I'm going to bed whether or not I get any sleep! Nah, I can't do that. I know! I'll make my jokes now, so I don't have to pull up random junk for my jokes today! YES!! THIS RULES!! -John, Treecko _

**John**

I was the first one up, again. Now, normally I'm the guy that sees the school bus pulling away from my driveway the second I wake up, have no time for breakfast, and rush outside forgetting I'm out of pencils, but not any more! Ah, you have no idea how awesome it is to be up way before anyone else unless you're one of those people who do that all the time anyways. Anyway, I had decided that night that it was time for my revenge for Meg's little "wake up call" What do mean, "Why are you still upset about that?" Do you have any idea how insulted I was? I may be a joker, but even I have a sense of pride! Sheesh! And I was going to do that with an old school trick: In your face (I mean that I put something in front of her face so when she wakes up that will be the first thing she sees.) My weapon: a poorly drawn picture of a treecko with a fist pointed at her face. _She's gonna flip when she sees this! HA HA HA!_

But, as I went over to Meg, I noticed two things: It was raining outside (good thing we put up that shelter yesterday), and that I wasn't the only one awake: Dan wasn't in his 'bed'. Now, why was I upset? Dan doesn't like it when we pull pranks on each other (though we do anyway), and there was no way he was going to let me- wait, where was he? He's not in his bed, he's not in other corners, and he's not at the entrance. In fact, he wasn't even in the cave. I went over to Mike and shook him awake. I got him up, but I also got zapped. "Yah!!" "Sorry," he whispered, "That was instinctive. Ok, why'd ya wake me up?" I turned to Dan's 'bed.' "Do you know where Dan is?" "Now why would I know that?" "Well, when Dan goes somewhere on his own in the middle of the night, he usually tells you before running off." "He didn't tell me anything, but you're right, it's not his style to rush ahead with out telling one of us, so, where is he?"

At that moment, we heard a small splash outside. We exited the cave, and saw Adam and Sarah, awake, and staring at something. We followed their gaze, and started staring too. One by one, everybody came out, followed our gaze, and stared. What were we staring at in disbelief? The whole forest was on fire, and there was no way we were going to get away in time...OK, so that was a total lie, but that would have been something to stare-OWWW!! Why- But- But- ALRIGHT ALREADY!! SHEESH!! Ok, what we really saw was jaw dropping (if ya had one): There was Dan, laughing and jumping around in the rain and puddles like a four year old. You're probably wondering why that froze us up so much. You see, Dan's kind of the serious type, and he never plays around like this, even for a joke. After a few minutes, the rain began dieing down, and Dan jumped around a little slower, just enough for me to recover my wits, run after him, and grab him by the tail. He turned back to look at me, opened his eyes wide for second, shook his head, looked at me, and said "John? What are you doing?"

Then he noticed his surroundings, everyone staring at him, and his feet in a puddle. The expression on his face quickly turned from one of confusion, to one of shock, to one of complete embarrassment. "Um…I was…er…just sleepwalking! Yep! Noting to worry about!" Meg (and everyone else) wasn't convinced: "What do you mean sleepwalking? YOU WERE RUNNING AROUND LIKE A FOUR YEAR OLD!!" "Hey!" Tom wasn't very happy about that. "Meg, you should probably apologize to Tom for that." "Well, it's true!" "All the same-" "Guys, can we please focus? I thought we were busy staring at me." You know what? I think we're starting to lose it. Our leader just said we should be staring at him, after he had just been jumping in puddles, and made one of the most pathetic excuses on the planet-" "We're not on Earth anymore John!" "Exactly! We're heading strait for the nut house-" "Guys-" "What nut house? We're in the middle of nowhere!" "Guys…" "I'm serious!"

"GUYS!!" Everybody stopped. "Ok, I know what I did was kind of scary, but let's not panic now. We still have jobs to do, and only so much time to do them, so let's get busy. Sarah, Adam, we have a river to cross. Mil, Sam, we need berries, and lots of them. Mike, there's an inventing chair with your name on it. (I decided to throw a fast one: "If he can sit on it with those stubby paws!" no one laughed, and all I got was another head bash) Anyways, everyone else better hurry up and find the Michels before they find us. Any questions?" Adam answered: "Yah, since when do Sarah and I take orders from you?" "Who said you have to?" He said, giving him his famous "Give Up?" look. (He gets an evil look in his eye and grins in a sinister way, but doesn't tower over you like they usually do with that expression. It means that he's going to give you a choice, but you'll only like the choice he wants you to pick. Every actor in the town asks him how he does it, but rumor has it that HE doesn't even know, though there's no proof behind it.) "If you'd rather just stay right here with nothing to do, stuck in a body of a bird, listening to Mike brainstorm, and-" "Ok! Ok! Sheesh!"

"Hey, I have a question." Everyone looked at me. I was using my "soft guy" voice, which means I'm being serious for once. "I've been doing some thinking, why did the stars hit us first? If I were an alien with body-changing technology I'd aim for the White House or something, not some puny town in the middle of nowhere, unless they have REALLY bad aim. (I got a smack for that.)" "You know, John's right this time, why did they hit us?" "Hey! We have jobs to do, remember? Let's get to work. And John, excellent point, but I think it would have been a better idea to point this out when we're turning in for the night, not in the morning." "Ah. So I goofed?" "Yep, big time."

**Mike**

I sat back and watched as everyone left the camp, leaving me all alone to work on a blueprint without blue paper, unable to have any alone time (not that anyone's had any since we got here)…… NOPE!! Not for me!! He, He!! I haven't told anyone yet, but I've been designing things, such as that raft Dan wanted, as soon as I found out I was a Pikachu: rain catchers, rope, even a doorbell. (ok, so it would need reloading every time it's used, but you try designing a doorbell with only vines and tree bark, and I'll say I didn't do my best.) As for the raft? (CRUNCH!!) Just take off a large chunk of tree bark and presto: a raft. Need a motor? There's a certain fish Pokémon in mind for that. And I had plenty of time to myself…ok, so there was a catch: the river current was too strong.

I know what you're thinking: 'But how did Dan get across the river?' Here's the short version: Dan has to use the doggie paddle (It's the only paddle that he could do with four legs), and that gets him across, but if he has to push a raft, with extra weight on it, with only half the horse power (his front legs busy keeping the raft steady), they would be pulled down stream, and the waterfall isn't very far from that. Oh, and the cliffs prevent us from going further upstream so don't bother asking if you were thinking that. However, according to my Pokepedia, Mudkips get most of their swim speed from their tails, so all Dan needs to do is use his tail, and problem solved…of course, there's a problem with that: we don't know how to use our tails. Ok, I know we spent half of yesterday getting used to our bodies, but we still haven't mastered them yet: We don't have a lot of control over our moves even if we can use them, we still have body parts we have no idea how to use, and we have NO IDEA how Dan can tie scarves with no fingers. Anyways, using our tails is one of those things, so I went back into the cave to try and figure out how to use it.

When I was inside I realized two things: 1) Tom had slept through the whole thing and was still in the cave; 2) Trying to get my tail to move was going to look weird, feel creepy, and was going to be down-right humiliating if Tom woke up. I decided to let him sleep and hope for the best (if I woke him up and asked him to leave the cave he'd pester me until I told him why, and then he'd want to watch). I went over to our mirror set. This was the first time I'd taken a look at myself, unless you count that brief glace in Meg's hand mirror, and before I started working on my tail, I decided to take a proper look at myself while I had the time.

I looked myself over and over for awhile, letting it sink in that that was my body: Yellow all over except a few brown lines on my back, short 3-toed paws, lighting bolt-shaped tail, pointed ears, and red electric sacs on my cheeks- _wait, what was that?_ I looked at the fur on the lower left part of my back, just above the lowest brown line. _Was that really, no, it couldn't be…_I parted the fur (with difficulty) and saw something I had never thought I'd see again: my star-shaped birthmark. What? "Why is that a big deal, it's just a birthmark?" I'm not done explaining yet!! Can't you wait for two seconds?! Sheesh!! This could only mean one thing: a part of my human body had been carried over to this dimension!! For someone who has memorized the laws of physical science (such as myself), this was a scientific break through!! But… _What did it mean? The transformation wasn't complete? The process is not a complete change? This was maybe an accident? AHHH!! Pant, pant… Alright, I'll have to admit it, I can't figure this out on my own, but who can I ask for help? Certainly not anyone who's already here. Sigh, I guess I'll just have to drop it for now and wait for someone who can help me to show up. In the mean time, there's an appendage I need to find out how to move, so let's take care of that…_

**Dan**

For those of you who are curious, swimming with four legs is a lot easier than you might think. You just have to do the doggie paddle, but move your back legs the same ways as your front legs, which move like your arms do when you doggie paddle as a human. However, this does not mean I crossed the river without a hitch: Sarah had to fly across, and she didn't know how to use her wings any better than to hover in one place and Adam couldn't help her so I had to push her along from beneath, listening to Adam taunt us the whole time (for personal reasons I'm not telling you what he said). Anyways, after that we explored the area with Adam scouting around, and found the twins' clothes in no time…Ok, it took several hours, but that's only because Adam kept crashing into trees, Sarah kept singing, putting me and Adam to sleep (sing: a move that puts you to sleep), and I had to keep going back to the river to moisturize (what were you expecting for a fish? I only needed the extra moisture because I skipped breakfast, including my share of the water supply, and the river was too muddy to drink). After we finally got to their clothes, we had a new problem: the twins were wearing leotards when they were hit, and, due the decrease in size, the leotards were closed in, and would take a lot of muscle power to make an opening that was large enough to pull them out. Sarah was too weak, Adam didn't have hands, and I couldn't do it alone, so we just had to sit back and wait for them to wake up. In the mean time…

"One, two, three!" … "I win!" "Shoot! Not again!" We were playing a new game we just made up. It's basically rock paper scissors, only we can do it without hands: we each have a pile of sticks, leaves, and rocks; we each pick something and grab it with what ever body part we can without showing what we chose; then on the count of three we throw 'em down. Sarah was happy just watching, so Adam and I had been going head to head for awhile. The score? Me: 42, Adam: 6 "Alright, that's it! I'm winning this time!" "One, two, three!"…… "Uh…brother…are you ok?"… "Adam?"…"Sahara-" "Right." (Whenever Adam loses it, he just freezes up like that, and the only way to get him to move again is to give him a good smack, and Sarah's the only one he won't pound when he's smacked so that's her job.) SMACK!! "Hey!!…Oh, sorry."

"Uhg…" There was a noise from inside one of the bundles! "Hey, they're up! Mary, Missy, are you ok?" "Uh…Dan? Is that you?" "Yep." "W-where are you? I can't-" "I know, I know." Then Missy (we knew them apart by their voices) woke up, asked the same things, and then they both asked where the other was. I took care of Mary, and Adam helped Missy. "Now listen, this is going to be hard to say in words, so why don't you just see for yourself." "Ok, but how?" "Here, (I tugged on the collar of Mary's leotard) see the light?" "Yes." "Go to it. I can't get it any wider so you're going to have to push a little." "Umph…" As Mary pushed her way out, I saw the face of a Plusle push its way out. _If Mary's a Plusle, than that means Missy…_Looking over my blue shoulder, I saw that, just as I suspected, Missy was a Minun. "Huh?" The twins began one of their famous "simultaneous speeches" where they say almost the same thing at exactly the same time. "You're a Pokémon?! But that means- (they look at themselves) I'M A PLUSLE/MINUN!! Sister?! AHHHH!!"

Once they calmed down, we explained the situation to them, but Adam couldn't resist: "The twins who never leave each other have turned into Pokémon who never leave each other. How obnoxiously cute. I-" ZZZAAAPPP!! "YEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!" Both twins had just zapped him, showing that the two of them where very fast adapters. "All right, calm down you two. Let's head back to the others. Oh, and Adam, when you can move again meet us back at the cave ok?" "O-o-o-k-k-k-k-…" "That's going to hurt in the morning." "Yep. Big time."

Top of Form

Bottom of Form


	9. Chapter 7: Watch it, Hot Shot NEW!

**Chapter 7: Watch it, Hot Shot.**

**Mike**

"Whew, thank goodness that's over with." After hours of attempts, some incredibly painful and/or embarrassing, I finally found out how to move my tail. It took forever, and the fact that Tom woke up didn't really help. I had to wait until Sam and Mil came back to play with him before I could continue, and that took an hour. I know what you're thinking: "Why go through all that trouble when you can just listen to your instincts?" It's simple; instincts don't tell you how to use muscles. Sure, they tell us how to do moves, climb walls, fly, and other things, but muscle control comes naturally to living beings: we don't have to think about how we move our body, we just know how. So, learning how to use a new body part that doesn't have an ability a creature would have to learn on it's own to survive (like Dan's gills for example) requires experimenting to figure out. For those curious, it's kind of impossible to describe what it feels like to have a tail unless you experience it for yourself, but I'll give it my best shot: imagine having a third leg surgically attached to your behind. It feels like a stick attached to your body until you figure out how to use it, then it feels like what it is: a third leg. (See, told you it's impossible.)

Anyway, now that I had some time, I started working on some key inventions: rain catchments, pillows, a sewer system (not getting anymore detailed than that), oh, and a food container. While I worked, I pondered about my birthmark. _Hmm, I don't know what it means, but what can I figure out from it as it is? First and foremost, it proves that whoever did this isn't planning to destroy mankind: they would have gotten rid of every trance of humanity we had, but they didn't. This also means that it's not a distraction for something: the system would have been a lot more simplified, not personal for birth marks and such. This eliminates several possibilities, though there's still too many to draw a conclusion. And as John pointed out this morning, why target a small rag-tag town like ours? Wait a minute; this means it can't be a worldwide phenomenon! Our town's too off sided on the globe; if they aimed for here, there's no way the energy could cover the entire planet! The energy needed for that, from any angle, would be so strong that what ever did it would be crushed to the size of a golf ball by the recoil, no matter what material was used or the size of the system! This is key! They were aiming for us! This eliminates half the possibilities! Ok, calm down Mike, it's still too soon to figure it out, but I have to share this with everyone tonight. Dan should be heading back by now, better check on him…_

**Dan**

"Sigh, wish he would hurry up." We were by the riverside, waiting for Mike to show up with the raft. Adam hadn't caught up yet, so we were waiting for him too. While we were waiting, the twins were still trying out thier new bodies. After they 'accidently' fried Adam, the weight of the whole situation dawned on them, and they started playing with their new forms. You know: staring at front paws, pulling on long ears, reaching for their tails (though ending up just running in circles), that kind of stuff. Oh, and finding themselves attracted to each other, in a physical way, if you know what I mean. After they were finished, we explained what we knew already, and then the twins wanted to come to our place for a while to learn how to use their bodies with expert advice. (Mike, sometimes I wonder why I lead the team when everyone wants your help) Getting used to walking was easy, all they had to do was find their center of balace and hobble over to the river, with some help from me and Sarah of course. Once we got to the river, they started working on everything else. Well, sort of.

"Wha!!" I quickly dodged as a pair of thunderbolts flew through the air, and land right where I was standing a quarter of a second ago. "Would you two please try and be a little more careful? I'm a water type, and therefore weak to electric attacks, and I'd rather be able to walk back to the cave instead of being dragged there and-HEY!!" I dodged again. "Well maybe that wouldn't be a problem if you weren't standing in front of us!" the twins said, simultaniously. _Sigh, what does a Mudkip have to do to keep two Electric Pokemon under control, evolve?! Wait, can we do that?... Good idea: don't think about it. Just sit back and wait for-_

"Hey guys!" Mike had arrived to the other side of the river while I was lost to myself. "Mike! About time you showed up!" "Sorry, I got carried away." Then he noticed the twins. "Oh! A Plusle and Minun! Just like you two! … Hey, where's Adam?" "Cooling off; he'll catch up." "Alright, back to the matter at hand, here's the raft!" He held up a chunk of tree bark. … "Uh, Mike? I know it'll float, but doesn't it need a motor?" "Yep." "So, where is it?" "You tell me fish boy." "You don't mean-" "Yep. Now get over here so you can play motor boat."

The water was a bit choppy, so I decided to go under for the first run. I know there are people who're curious about what it feels like to breathe with gills. I don't know how to describe it, but I'll give you the best explanation I can think of. The hard part is remembering to NOT breathe with your mouth or nose, because your lungs (or whatever I have now) can't get oxygen from water (Duh). As for how the gills feel, Mudkip gills anyway, it feels like like having some kind of atachment on your checks, and the water rushing through 'em feels like jello under your skin, but I figure you get use to that eventually. As for swimming like a fish, It feels like a dream! You're flying through nothing, with complete freedom, and you're in complete control. Plus the water surrounding your body feels great, making the experience even more extraordinary. Well, so long as you're a fish!

After making it across, I ran to Mike, which was a surprise considering that up until now I could barely walk quickly on four legs. _Must be getting used to it I guess. But first- _"Mike, I know what to do, but-" "Just use your tail." ... "What? How am I supposed to do that?!" "Focus on standing rigid, like standing straight as a human, then try moving your spine against the strain."… I gave it a try, and: "My tail moved! I felt it!" "Now, focus on where you felt it, and you should be able to control it." "Whoa!" I was moving my tail back and forth; I was wagging my tail (man, that REALLY sounds creepy)! After a little experimenting, I gave it a shot in the river, and and made what used to be a twenty-second trip, in five seconds. Plus, using my tail as a rudder, which felt kind of like fan attached to my lower back, was kind of fun, and cool.

"I know you're going to hate me for this, but I'm going to have to separate you two." "Wha? Why-" "Look at this piece of bark. It's flimsy, thin, and fragile. If you want to get across with out going for a swim, you'll have to split up for a moment." ... "Alright, but make it quick, ok?" I ended up carrying Mary first, then her sister. Swimming with a load was a little tougher, and took a lot longer, but I got the job done with out any serious accidents. (Unless you count Sarah. She ran out of steam half way over the river, And I had to swim her the rest of the way.) And with that, we started making our way back to the cave, but Mike and I weren't looking forward to getting there, and it was pretty obvious why. _Two bullies, two twins, a four year old, plus joker? This night can only end in tears…_

**John **

"Ok, what's the plan? Do we carry them closer or further from the cave if at all? Do we tell them outright or let them figure out for themselves? Do we trust them, or keep them away from us? Do we- John! Are you listening?!" "Huh? Oh, sure!" Ok, so I wasn't really listening. Sure, how we were going to break the news to the Michels was important, but I was busy worrying about something else: What Pokémon were they going to be?

We've been debating it for a while now, but as of yet we've decided that it's based off of three things: age, personality, and some other trait we don't know. **Age**: This was confirmed with Tom, though Sarah made us give it extra thought, and determined that she was an evolved Pokémon because it evolves from Togepi, which is kind of a baby Pokémon, and she's not a baby. **Personality**: Jess, Mike, Tom, and Sarah confirmed this. Their Pokémon characteristics (listed in the Poképedia) matched their own. **Something else**: well, this was kind of obvious; everyone else had no connections whatsoever with the Pokémon that they'd turned into, and no one could think of what else it could be; and besides, we'd all agreed that there was no way it could just be by chance.

Now, why was I worried about that? Simple: power. The Michels were older than us. The younger one, Mitch (Mitch Michel, what an original name), was 14, like us, but his older brother, Greg (has a slightly better ring to it), was 19, almost an adult. Whatever Pokémon they turned into, they were going to be tougher than us, and if they also had a type advantage, we're not going to be able to stop them from terrorizing us, and whoever else shows up after us; and the idea of a pair of super strong bullies who can take down the only ones brave enough to take them on (us) without even trying isn't exactly my idea of a relaxing get-away.

"Guys," called Jess, who was leading the group through the South-West thicket by making a path for us (the one we made to get to Tom had mysteriously disappeared) with her talons, "I found them, but…" "But what?" Meg had her answer right in front of her: instead of two bundles of clothing with lumps in them, we saw an empty pile of clothes with an unconscious Gengar lying on top of it, and another pile half covering an Ekans, with its head and rattle sticking out. Needless to say, we didn't have a hope of moving them, so that was no longer an option, and if we left them, they'd follow the only way out: through the path that we had just cut, leading them directly to our cave, and, as Dan said, the thought of the Michels sneaking up on us wasn't exactly a good idea.

This didn't mean we just sat back and stared though. As soon as we were all in the clearing, we started searching their clothes, with some difficulty, for any torture devices. Fortunately, the only thing we found was some kind of half-finished wooden structure. They were inventing new tools when the stars struck, meaning they didn't have any tools with them, and consequently meaning our lives just got a whole lot easier. However, right then and there, I realized another problem: "The Michels don't even know what Pokémon are! How in the world are we going to tell them what they've turned into if they don't even know what Pokémon are?"… "Whoops." was all Jess could say. Meg: "I guess we overlooked that." "Great, so now what do we- hey, wait a minute, we could use this to our advantage!" "How can we-" then the Gengar started to tremble. "Alright let me do the talking." _Hope I know what I'm doing._

"Uhg…MITCH!! I THOUGHT I TOLD YA TO PUT THEM KEEGS O' GUNPOWDER ON THE TOP PLANK!!" "Hey!! You're the one who was holding the matches! You're the one who lit the stupid powder!" We all sweatdroped at this. They were arguing with each other before they were even fully awake, and apparently they went through explosions a lot in their little inventing room. That also explained the unfinished wooden structure: a "fire lift" (a block of wood filled with gunpowder that'd be thrown into a fire, making a large boom, and sending the fire roaring high for a few seconds; just the kind thing to interrupt our small town's beauty sleep). Obviously, they thought the crashing of the stars was an explosion from their gunpowder. Oh, how wrong they were. Oh, and the yell, Greg, came from the Gengar, so the Ekans had to be Mitch. "Just you wait till I get my hands on you…" _Oh, the irony snake boy. _"Not when I run you through first!" _Great, more irony, now from the ghost. _"Ya want a battle?" _Alright, that's it; the Michels are in an ironic mood today, now with irony on a topic they don't even know exists. I'd better stop them before they make an ironic Shakespeare reference. _"Alright Rome-" "Hello you two, mind if you stop arguing for now? You've been unconscious all night, and we almost had to drag you to the grave yard so you wouldn't stick out so much." ("Remind me to pound him when we get back." "I'm pretty sure you won't need reminding").

That got them up, or at least got them to open their eyes. "Where are ya, you pipsqueak?!" Greg looked all over the place, overlooking Mitch and us due to his lack of interest in animals, even if we really weren't animals. Finally, Mitch took action: "Greg? Where are ya?" "Who cares about you? Where's that clown?" Then they faced each other, and froze. But I wasn't letting him get away with that insult. "Excuse me?! CLOWN?! I'm a joker! Jokers and clowns live in completely different time periods for crying out loud!" ("Make that a double pounding") They turned to me, froze, then to each other, then back to themselves, and then they finally noticed that something was wrong with them. "Where'd my arms go?!" "Who cares about you, I'm burnt to a crisp!!" _Yea, right Greg. _

"What in the blazes did ya put in that fire lift!" "It wasn't the fire lift ya nitwit! Ya' a snake!!" "Wha-" Mitch looked at himself. "What in tarnation!!" "See! That don't happen from gunpowder! Well, at least it didn't happen to me!" "What ya talking 'bout, yar face is on your gut!" "Wha-" "And yar mouth isn't closing!" Greg put his arm up to his mouth."SS...MMM...EERR...Ahh!" "Ha! Take that! Ya mongral!" "GGRRRR...YA RATTLER!!" Then Mitch noticed his rattle, and Greg noticed something you really don't want to see. "Wait a second- ya naked as a jaybird!" Mitch looked down and started panicking, not before looking at Greg and noticing: "So are you!" Greg looked down. "AHH!!" What happened next? They tried to put thier clothes back on, rather unsucessfully. For starters Mitch didn't have hands to pick his clothes up, or a body to put them on (or a pair big enough for him!) And Greg? Being a ghost, his hands kept going right through his clothes, and he was too busy panicking to notice, or change that.

As amusing as it was to watch, I knew we had to stop them if we wanted to get back home in time for dinner- "John, get over there and knock some sense into them." "Wha?! Why me?" You're the one who started this mess, so you have to work it out! Besides, I'll burn you if you don't!" Now, Jess couldn't do Ember yet (the most basic fire attack of all time), but she could get a few flames out of that little beak of hers, and as a grass type, that would mean major pain on my part. "alright, alright, but I want you and Meg as back up." "Forget it John. You're not getting help from me." "Meg!" "I don't even know how to do a lousy tackle, so how could I possibly help you?" She had me there. "Fine, but you better have my back Jess." "Ya, Ya, GO ALREADY!!"

_Sigh, hope I live through this. "_Hey Mitch, Greg! Keep up the funky dancing! You're going to be a hit on You-tube! ("I'd better make that a triple pounding") That got their attention. "Wait a minute, did that lizard just talk?" "I'm a gecko! Learn your reptiles!" "Wait, I know that voice, it's the clown!" "The clown's a lizard?" "_Gecko joker_! How many times do I have to say it?! And yes, it's me, John." ……………… "WHAT IN THE NAME OF-" "Hello, we're right here, you don't need to shout!" ("Quadruple it.") "What in the blazes is goin' on here?! Mitch's a snake, I'm a see-through purple-black thing, and the clown's a talking lizard?!" "Actually, I'm not talking. Just listen to my voice, not my words. 'I'm a super genius! I'm a super genius! I'm a super genius!'" ("Alright, that's it. I'm pounding him into the soil when we get back." "Hmmm... him being a grass type, maybe he'll grow." "Now that's a pleasant thought.") "Eh, I'll give ya that one clown." "That goes for you two too, ya know." "Say Wha?-" "He's right Mitch, for once. Besides, ya'd be a talkin' snake if not!"

"Alright, now that we understand each other, would you guys like to know what's going on?" The bullies looked at each other, then faced me again, but with a sinister look. "I got a better idea." Next thing I know, Greg jumps me. "Hey!" We scuffled around in the grass for a bit, but in the end: "Alright pipsqueak, ya going to tell us where we are, what ya did to me and my bro, and what ya doin' with ma' fire lift! Comprendo?" Greg was hanging me by my leafy tails over Mitch's open mouth, trying to get me to talk. "Uh, Jess? A little help please!" "Alright, but only because you said please." That's when the two of them noticed Jess and Meg on the sidelines. "Eh? Heh, take a look at that Mitch, the 'iron lady's' a chick!" "And a fuzzy one too!" "Watch it, hot shot! I'm warning you!" Jess was in danger mode, ready to be set off. A quick lesson: make fun of Jess, and it's the last thing you'll do for weeks. "Awwww, ain't she a cutie?" "She makes me want to give her a squeeze." "I'll make her my new teddy bird."

("Oh no, not a teddy joke!" "Well, it was not nice knowing them.") The two of them started cracking up (though Greg still didn't put me down). And Jess? The look on her face would've made James Bond wet his pants. I'm dead serious here. "Alright, that's it, YOU'RE GOING DOWN!!" "Eh?" "Wha?" "TWO ON ONE, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!!" ... "Heh, this'll be fun!" He finally put me down, well, threw me really, and then something hit me, and not just the ground: this was a Pokemon battle about to happen! The first, in fact, to happen in real life! "Meg?" "Ya?" "Go and get the others, they should probably see this." "Ok, be right back." And she was off, and the battle was about to start...


	10. Chapter 8: A Pokemon Battle!

Chapter 8: The First Battle

**Chapter 8: A Pokémon Battle!**

**Dan**

_Sigh, what's taking them so long? _I was pacing around the cave, waiting for John and the others to get back so we could 'negotiate' with the bullies. They were running late, and though I knew that they'd have some problems, I couldn't help but be impatient! _I just want to get this over with! As the leader, I'm going to be doing most of the talking, meaning that it'll be my fault if we come to bad terms, and I'm not sure whether or not I can trust them! Not to mention,_ I thought as I looked around the cave, _We have three young kids here, so I'm going to have cut back on the (empty) threats! Ok, calm down Dan, deep breath, and start thinking of a way to- _

"WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO LEAVE ME ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER?!" Ok, forget that idea. Adam was back, and was looking a little mad. Ok, really mad. Alright, so mad his fried feathers were steaming. No, really. Anyway, we had an angry bird (or, maybe, a 'riled up robin!') on our hands- er- paws, and all we had to handle him was four mice (three of them electric types), an amphibious fish, and a...er...flying thingy (What in the world are Togetic supposed to be anyway?). IQ test: which side had an advantage? (Starts humming Jeapordy)

Anyways, after a breif argument ("He did it." "No, She did it!" "No you!" "No, you" "No-" ... I think you get the idea) and a little persuading ("You want us to zap you again?!"), we managed to get Adam calmed down. Well, as calm as you can get an extra crispy, slightly paralyzed, and short tempered bird Pokémon anyway. "So... Where is everybody?" "Did the twins zap your brain too? We told you this morning: they're off to get the bullies." "I know that, but why aren't they here yet?" "I was just about to think of that when you came rushing in, out of breath, with a look on your face that could-"

That's when Meg decided to show up, rushing in, out of breath, with a look on her face that could- "Dan!" She gasped, interrupting my description yet again. "(huff), hurry, (pant) Jess is, (hack)" "Meg, calm down. It'll only take longer to get the message out if you do it while out of breath." "Yea. Calm down, catch your breath, and then tell us." "Huff, huff, we all need to get to the thicket, huff." "What?! Is John in trouble?!" ("No surprises there." "ADAM!" "Sorry.") "No, huff, Jess is having a Pokémon battle!" ... Everyone, even Tom: "SAY WHAT?!"

**Jess**

_Well, Jess, you did it again. Getting yourself in trouble because of your pride. Not only have you decided to take on two bullies single handedly, but you also don't have any experience whatsoever with battling, Pokémon or otherwise! _I was in deep trouble, no doubt about it. The problem was that Greg was a fully evolved Pokémon, and besides that, he doesn't have to make a lot of adjustments since Gengar is pretty similar in build to a human. The only attack I knew was scratch, which was weak against Mitch (Turns out battling's more complicated than type advantage. Skin toughness also matters, especially super tough snake skin) and good and useless against Greg, who, though he didn't know any moves, was more than capable of picking me up, and bashing me against something hard. The only advantage I had was that Mitch had no idea how to move as a snake, so all I had to do was avoid him. I'd managed to dodge Greg so far for the most part, but do you have any idea how tough it is to jump around with 3 talons with one in the behind them instead of 5 toes and a pair of feet? Not only is your center of gravity thrown out the window, it's almost impossible to shift your weight from one talon to the other. Walking was kind of easy to learn, running was rather tricky, but dodging? To this day I still have no idea how I managed to keep it up for so long.

"Hold still so I can crush you!" "Yea, like I'm going to do that?" Oh, and not only did I have to deal with the bullies, I had to deal with my pain in the neck of a teammate. "Come on, Jess, get him! He doesn't have any guts!" "John, I don't need a cheerleader right now, so could you please ZIP IT!!" I dodged another grab. _Think, Jess, think! You aren't going to accomplish anything if you just keep on dodging! Ok, what do you have that he doesn't? I have a little more experience with being a Pokémon, and I actually know a few things about Pokémon, so how do I use that to my advant- ah! _My luck ran out, and I was dangling by a talon from Greg's shadowy hand, which felt like cold oil against my talon (which surprised me that I could feel anything under those scales). "What ya gonna do now chicky?" "I, I-" "That's what I thought, you're a chicken!" Now that was the last straw. He can call me soft, cuddly, even a teddy, but calling me a coward?! I got so mad, I could feel the flames in my fire sac flare up with double the intensity they had been previously (which is impossible to describe unless you've ever had fire in your gut before, and I really hope you haven't), and led me to do something I never thought I'd do: "Oh yeah?! You know all about being a chicken! Like you were with your girlfriend!

Maybe I should back up and explain. You see, four years ago a girl and her family decided to stay in our sad excuse of a town for the summer, and Greg, being the same age as her, found her kind of, attractive. He started slipping chocolate in her mailbox, leaving mushy love-letters at her door step, singing to her in the night while hiding in the shadows, the works. By the time she only had a week left to stay, she got the impression someone was determined to love her, and put an ad in the newspaper telling her lover to meet her outside of town. Greg was so worried and excited, he asked US to help him pull his act together! Why did we agree? If Greg was busy with his girlfriend, there'd be one less bully in our neighborhood. In the end, we gave him lots of prep talk, words of advice, and an escort in case he needed one. Of course, I volunteered to be the escort.

Greg arrived at the meeting place about 40 minutes early, paced the whole time with me hiding in the shadows. And when the girl in question finally showed up, she made eye contact with and he ran right out of there without so much as a simple "I love you." The girl was shocked, so I showed myself and told her everything. She understood, but she wanted a brave man to sweep her off her feet, not a coward. She left our town without hearing from Greg again. Unsurprisingly, Greg spent the next week wreaking more havoc then ever before. That's also when he developed his grudge for me, despite the fact that he had asked me two-billion times to explain if he couldn't tell her what he thought of her himself. Well, there's a bully for you, always blaming others. So, with that story in mind, my taunt, which I had promised myself not to use as long as I lived, was a hit below the belt. Right below the belt.

That froze him up good, I tell you, real good. And that's when it happened: I fell right through his hand. That's when it hit me, and not just the ground (that's sounds like a joke John would come up with): ghost Pokémon become intangible instinctively if they're spooked or frightened (which is kinda ironic when you think about it). Guess my insult really shook him up. Being the quick-witted person- er- Pokémon that I was, I took immediate action once Greg was open, and thinking quickly, jumped around him and clamped my beak down on that stub of a tail of his. "Yah! Get off!" Greg tried to reach me, but found that his arms were too short to reach behind him. How sad. But I knew I couldn't hold on for long, not only was he trying to toss me off, but his tail tasted horrible! Ugh, I still lose my appetite thinking about it. But then again, I didn't need to. All I needed to do was take a deep breath, and Greg would be in a world of pain. Easier said than done while being thrown around, but I did it, and breathed out, bringing a flame (by far the biggest one I've made so far) with it, setting his tail on fire! With a satisfied smirk, I let go of his now-burning appendage.

"AAEEII!!" Greg started running around, trying in vain, to put out the fire on his tail. Lesson to learn here, don't forget what you learned in preschool: Stop, drop, and roll. Not that John or I offered that advice; we were too busy enjoying ourselves as he ran around like an idiot. Eventually, the damage from the fire was too much for him, and he collapsed to the ground, putting out the fire (which is ironic because he fainted BEFORE he could put it out). "Greg is unable to battle. Jess has won half the match!" John called like a ref. Revenge had been served. Then I turned to Mitch. "Your turn." Then I noticed something. Mitch hadn't been sitting back and watching, he'd been trying to move, and now he could. It was uneven and jerky, but he could move. Bad news for me; he was right behind me, jaws open! "Yah!" I quickly jumped back, just as his jaws snapped shut. "Stand still, I'm starvin'!" "Yeah right!" And it was back to the dodging, but I wasn't happy. _The flame trick isn't going to work here. What do I do now? Should I- _OOFFF!! Mitch caught me with the side of his head, knocking me off my feet- er- talons, and leaving me vulnerable.

"Uh Oh!" "I've waited a long time for this!" And Mitch zoomed in for the strike, but right at that moment I felt something, a burning, overwhelming wave of energy coursing through my body; and before I realized what I was doing, I opened my beak, and a burst of flames shot out, beating Mitch back, and dealing some serious damage! All Mitch could do was gasp as his head fell to the ground, scorched and smoking. "What...did...she...just..." And with that, he collapsed. I just sat there on my feathery behind, staring at Mitch's burnt hide. Then it clicked: I just did Ember! And I also just beat up the guys we were supposed to escort back home! Who ho. "Mitch is unable to battle, Jess-" "John." "Yeah?" "Please be quiet." "Sure Jess." I was using my 'scary calm' tone, which he knew meant that I'm not mad, but that I could explode at any second. "Sigh, now what? How are we supposed to get these two to the cave before night fall now?" I wondered. "With a little help, of course." That's when I noticed that everyone else, including a Plusle and Minun, obviously the twins, were standing right there, on the other side of the clearing. "Dan." "Yeah Jess?" "How long have you guys been standing there?" "We came in when you were dodging Greg's grip. Might I say that was an impressive performance?" "Thanks." Then the exhaustion, which I had been too shocked to notice before, caught up with me, as I fell to ground, and fainted.

**(Some time later...)**

The first thing I noticed was the voices; dimly at first, but getting sharper by the second. "-- but -- rest -- after -- she's -- to be - ble to move!" "Ugh..." I moaned, but it was so soft I could barely here it. "Jess? Are you awake?" I slowly opened one eye, and blurrily saw Mike standing over me. "Uh...Mike...where...am I?" "Calm down Jess, you're in the cave. After you collapsed, the rest of us dragged you, Mitch, and Greg over here." "Uh-" "Hey, she's moving!" I pulled myself up from the blanket I was lying on, but didn't hop up onto my talons. "Bah, shoot!" Greg spat, though with a bit of fear in his voice. This, nor my exhaustion, could dampen my attitude though. "What Greg? You up for round two?" He paled at that. Well, sort of, more of a deep purple that was lighter than usual for him, but you get the idea. "That's right you two, you better be afraid!" John was hollering at them, but with a tone that suggested superiority. "Psss, Mike, what's John up to?" "He told them that we were powerful monsters who could destroy them." "Yea, but so are they. And they're not that stupid." "Yeah, but then John told them that they were a much weaker kind of monster than us." "Did they really buy it?" "Well, you did just wipe the floor with them." "Ah."

"So I'll ask nicely one more time, are you going to listen to us, help us out, and not cause any trouble?" "What if we say no?" "Jess comes over here and burns you two till you're a pile of ash." The younger kids were asleep, thank goodness, which also showed how late it was, and Dan was nowhere to be found. "Hump. I don't make promises to twerps like you." "In case you haven't noticed Greg, we're not exactly 'twerps' at the moment, so you'd better come up with a better insult, or just give up already." "Grr..." Mitch spoke up: "We'll lisen to ya, but you better not pull anything funny, got it?" "What are y-" Greg wispered, in a vain attempt to keep us from hearing him: "It's only till we know where we are, what we are, what we can do, and how we can get home. Once we find that out, we ditch 'em. Got it?" "Gotcha."

"Ok, here's the deal, you're sleeping outside, about a minute's walk from here going straight out of the cave, and before you whine, we've built a shelter for you there, which is why Dan isn't here right now. Now get going, and don't you dare come near this cave till sunup! Got it?" "Yeah. Sure." And with that, they left. I sighed. "Are we actually trusting them? I know the whole 'turned into Pokémon' thing is a big deal and all, but..." "Don't worry. After John's made-up story they'll think twice before causing any trouble."

"All the same, we should have a watch shift every night from now on." Dan was back, and doing what he did best: leading the team. "Ok, It's going to be me, John, Jess, Meg, Mike, and Adam. Two hour shifts each. That way, one of us can get a good night's sleep so we're not completely helpless in the morning. Who gets what shift will be chosen at random, just take your scarf/headband off to show your shift's already done for the night. Any questions?" "Yea-" "Adam, you're helping because you're old enough, and you don't want the bullies sneaking up on us any more than we do. Any other questions? I don't want to hear it John." John sighed in defeat. I spoke up. "Yea, who gets the first shift tonight?" "Let me guess, you want to volunteer." "Yes I do Mike. Not just because I want to, but it makes sense because I've just been sleeping for the last, what, 6 hours? I need less sleep then the rest of you." That was good enough for most of them, and everyone but Mike and Dan hit the hay right then and there. "Ok, why are you two still up?" "Nothing Jess. Just having a private conversation." "Ok." But I still couldn't shake the feeling that they were hiding something important from me...

**Dan**

"Alright Mike, this better be good." "Have I ever told you that I had something important to tell you and didn't?" "Well, there was that time with the shaved dog-" "BESIDES that one." "Nope can't say you did." "Ok, take a look at this." Mike parted the fur on the lower left part of his back, showing his star mark (that's what we called it when we were young, and we still do). "That's it? Your star mark?" "Exactly! ... You don't get it do you?" "Hm…. I'm not commenting on it, so probably NO!" "Sigh, Ok. You know that old theory about this being a virtual reality?" "Yeah?" "Well, if it was a virtual world, would it include birth marks and such? No." "Ah, now I get it. So... what's the theory now?" "Don't have one, but I can tell you something else, who or whatever did this, they were aiming for us." "Eh?" "If it's not a virtual reality, it can't be waves causing this, and our location on the globe prevents the energy from spreading all the way around the world." "Uh, I'm no scientist, but even I can-" "The energy it would take to do that would obliterate whatever released it, and turning the whole world into Pokémon really isn't my idea of a good sacrifice." "Ah. So you're telling me and not everyone else because..." "A fake possibility is better than no possibility for the younger kids, and I don't trust John, Adam, or the Michels to keep that knowledge secret." "Got it. So, what do we do now?" "You tell me, you're the leader!"

"Hm.… Ok, we'll keep it secret, but only till we have another possibility that makes sense, ok?" "Got it." Mike went to bed, but his words had me thinking. _Why would anyone in the universe attack our puny town? If they wanted to avoid attention, it wouldn't be at our town. It's in the middle of nowhere, sure, but it's not completely invisible to the outside world, being in the USA. You want to do something without anyone noticing, aim for somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there's enough uncharted islands out there with civilization! WHY US?! Sigh... it's just one mystery after another. If they _are_ aiming for us, then what's going to happen when everyone in town's been turned into a Pokémon? Guess the only way to find out is to wait until that happens. Man, are we in over our heads! Hm... maybe the scientists from the military base outside of town can shine a little light on the subject, when they get here..._


	11. Chapter 9: A Day Off?

**Chapter 9: A Day Off?**

_June 21, soon to be 22_

_Whew, what a day… I feel like I could just lie down and fall asleep without realizing it any second, yet I also feel pumped, ready for action (I'm guessing that's because I gained a few levels today. I always wondered where the idea came from that Pokémon suddenly felt ready to learn moves.), and most importantly, I found out how to write without hands! Dan managed it by wrapping his paw around the pencil, which I can't do because I don't have paws, and trying to write with it gripped in my talon is too tricky to do and stay balanced at the same time. I can't see what I'm doing when I use my beak, and I can't get a strong grip with my wings, so those aren't possibilities either. Then it hit me, why not use my wing to hold the pencil in place, and use my talon for the writing? This double up works great, though slows me down a bit, but it's good to be able to put down what I feel. Hm… I have another 5 minutes to burn (oh, the irony) till my shift is over, so what should I write about? Sigh… I wonder what those geeks at the 'military base' are doing. The stars couldn't have hit them yet… -Jess, Torchic_

**In another place…**

The whole base was in a panic. From the guards' fearful cries of what they were about to face, to the scientists that were trying to come up with an answer, there was panic. The stars had, apparently, started falling out of the sky. By now a third of the town was in flames, and the rest was quickly following suit. It was obvious that they only had a minute at most until they were struck too. Among the panic and frantic researching, one guard spent the entire time staring at the falling stars. _……I hope the kids are all right……_

**Meg**

I was having a nightmare. I was human, and I was surrounded by stars, houses, and the faces of my friends. Then suddenly the stars exploded, engulfing everything except me in flames. I could only sit back and watch as my friends' faces burned away. When the flames burned out… there was only darkness and a small platform of soil that I found myself standing on. Suddenly, 2 long vines shot out of the ground and lodged themselves into my neck. They started pumping some kind of green slime into my body. I could see that my insides turned green (don't ask how I know that, it's a dream!). I started to wobble from dizziness, and I gave off a soft moan before I become immobile. Then I felt what seemed like small screws twisting themselves out of my neck, right below the vines, which I quickly realized were small seeds. The pumping continued…and then I felt my hair starting to grow out, but at the same time fusing together and turning green… widening out and growing veins… until I had a giant leaf sticking out of my head.

More pumping… my skin began to turn bright green and smooth, and I could smell a pleasant aroma starting to come off my leaf. More pumping… my hands and feet felt a tight squeeze, causing me to fall down, but not land, as my hands and feet began to squeeze together…becoming thin legs with no fingers. More pumping… the rest of my body started to melt, forming into an indefinite shape, my neck swelled to the same thickness as my head, leaving me without a neck, and a small bit came out at the back… a tail. The pumping stopped, but then it began going into reverse, pumping out of me instead of in. As it did, I started to shrink… till I was only an inch tall… I could move again, and I started crying, trying to will the vines to pump me back to normal…but then they tore themselves out of the ground and started slipping into my 'neck,' and the ground beneath me disappeared.

I was all alone in the dark, shrunk and mutated… Then the darkness faded, revealing a clearing in a forest full of Pokémon…but I knew that they were all humans before. I walked up to a small puddle… I saw a Chikorita looking back at me. I turned around, and saw a group of 6 Pokémon…my friends, waiting for me. Everything faded away. Then no more……… Ugh. THIS IS BY FAR THE CREEPIEST, WIERDEST, AND MOST DOWN RIGHT CONFUSING DREAM I'VE EVER HAD!!! Huff, huff… At any rate, needless to say, I woke up from that VERY edgy. Shoot! I made a promise to myself last night that I was going to wake up tomorrow morning and NOT make a scene that made everyone think I've gone bananas. So, despite how badly I wanted to scream, I willed myself to stay calm, woke up, and opened my eyes.

Nothing was happening, everyone was still asleep. I didn't want to go back to sleep, so I turned over… AND SAW GREG RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE!!!! "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Everyone in and out of the cave jumped right out of their 'beds' and turned to my screaming, except for John who started rolling on the floor. Then I noticed that Greg was a little…scruffy looking. A closer look, and I found out that 'Greg' was a piece of paper with a poorly drawn Gengar face on it. … … … "JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He wasn't rolling around in panic, he was rolling with laughter! "HA, HA HA!!!! That was so rich! You should have seen the look on your face! Priceless! HA HA HA!!!!" Everyone in the cave (plus Sarah, Adam, and the twins) gave John a _really_ angry glare, and stepped back as I started marching over to him. You don't want to get in the way of my marching.

"JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!" He was still chuckling. "Heh, heh, yes Meg?" "Do you know what I am about to do to do to you?" "Yep, and I have nothing to worry about." "Huh?" I said, a little confused. "You're going to yell at me, then walk away in a huff, because you have no way to land the beat down on me!" I hate to admit it, but he was right. Stupid lump body! It was so unfair! I'm the one who needs to land a smack down, and I'm the only one who can't! Something in me snapped. There was a tug on the sides of my neck as I felt two vines come out and I watched as they whippped John right across the face! CRACK! "YYYEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!" (Let me clarify something: Vine Whip isn't very effective against a grass type, but being less effective does not make it any less painful. As for a whip right across the face, well, let's just say John's face had an angry red mark for quite some time.)

As soon as I finished, I froze and stared at what had just happened. The vines had surprised everyone, including me! _How did I do that? Since when COULD I do that?_ "Whoa, Meg! How did you know how to do that?" Mike called over to me. I was too busy trying to control my vines (ugh, another creepy sounding phrase) to answer. They felt like, well, I'm not really sure WHAT they felt like, but they felt like something. I'm bad at descriptions, so I'll just say they felt like, well, whips attached to my neck. They were tricky enough to control as they were, and I wanted to put them back into their, er, whatever (where does Chikorita keep its vines when it's not using them? In fact, I don't think I even WANT to know). But I didn't know how to pull them back in! "Umm… A little help here?" "Sure." Jess walked over and tried to help me control them.

"Ok." said Mike, looking at me and Jess (fumbling with my vines), John (rolling in pain), and everyone else watching the show. "Now that everything's under control, ("What are you talking about?") I have an announcement to make, and one that I'm sure you'll all like." That made everyone's ears perk up (yes it caught the attention of everyone without ears, but the rest of us didn't have anything to perk up, so how could I say we did?) Of course, not everyone took him seriously. "Well then, Pikaboy, feel free to share this 'happy announcement.' Did you find a way home? Did you find a better shelter? Did you find an ice cream Sunday we can all enjoy?" "As a matter of fact, Adam, I did."………"You just want me to shut my mouth ("beak") so you can tell us already, right?" "Yes, and please do so."

"As I was saying, the announcement is about today's schedule." "So? What about it?" "We don't have one."…………"Sigh…translation: We have nothing to do today."……… "Ugh…WE HAVE A DAY OFF!!!" "Oh." ... Then it hit us. "Wait, did you just say-" "Yep." Up to this point we'd been too busy to really enjoy or play around in our new bodies. And now we had a WHOLE DAY to ourselves! "YEAH!!!" "YAY!!!" "YAHOO!!!!" "Ok, ok, I know it's big, but let's stay calm for a minute. There might be a small hiccup." "Wha?" The atmosphere in the cave visibly dropped 3 miles downward. "Geez, it's just a hiccup! Ok, today, the stars will be crossing the first ("And third to last.") street of the town. The hiccup is whether there was someone on the street at the time. Greg, Mitch, (the two of them came out from the bush they were hiding behind), Mary, Missy, the four of you live on the street corners. Did any of you see anyone on the street at the time?" "I ain't tellin' ya nothin'." said Greg. Mitch was willing to talk though. Well, sort of. "We didn't see anything, you yellow rat." "I didn't see anything." Mary said, alone. Everyone stopped and stared at Missy. The twins never spoke differently unless they had something different to say, and if Mary didn't see anything… "There was a shadow on the corner before I blacked out."

"Ok," Said Dan, looking at the crushed faces around him. "How about we only send one person to get whoever it is, and the rest stay here. Does that sound good to everyone?" I spoke up: "Yes, but it won't to whoever we send. Who do we send anyway?" Everyone almost instantly turned to John, who was just pulling himself off the ground. "Ok, it's unanimous. John goes to pick up whoever it is out there." "Wha? Hey! That's not fair!" Dan was ready for him: "John, you terrorized Meg, woke us all up early, and if that's not reason enough, you've done nothing constructive since we got here except make a poorly drawn map, and find Sarah, who would have been found even if you weren't there." John started to argue, but Jess piped in before he could say anything. "John, you're going, and that's that." John turned to her, ready with a snappy comeback, but stopped when he noticed the flame crackling in Jess's slightly open beak. He looked from her beak to her eyes, which were clearly saying "Go now, or your tail is going to be a smoking pile of ash." One of them twitched, and John ran out of the cave as fast as he could. Once he was out, he set off grudgingly, grumbling under his breath the whole way. "Ok, now that that's been taken care of, everyone enjoy your day." And with that Mike walked over to his corner and started working on some project or something.

Meanwile, I finnaly managed to get a little control over my vines. I couldn't pull them in yet, but I could move them slightly. "Ok, I think I can take it from here, Jess." Jess gave me a worried look. "Are you feeling ok, Meg? It's not like you to be so calm about something like this." "I just....had a rough night last night." "Well...if you're sure. I'm your best friend you know. You can always talk to me if you want." "No, it's ok." "Sigh...ok." And with that she went off to practice her new abilities outside. "Sigh..." I looked around. Dan was negotiating with the Michels, Sam, Sugar, and Tom were playing tag outside, the twins were zapping the trees outside after having listened to Mike's advice about how to use electric attacks (he can't do 'em himself yet. He isn't as fast of an adapter as the twins). Sarah was practicing her flying, and Adam was nowhere to be seen, probably flying around the place, enjoying himself. Despite the freedom we had, no one had claimed the mirrors. I decided to change that. (ok, so I have a poor sense of humor. That's why I don't try to be funny.)

"Sigh..." This was the first time I'd taken an actual look at myself. I'd put it off till now because I didn't want to face the fact that it was my body. In case you're wondering, this is normal for me. I usually try to deny it when something happens to me, and after a while I get depressed, and the only way I can cheer myself up is to face the facts and take a good look at myself (It was really tough that one time I got pen ink on my nose. Don't laugh! I had to spend hours with a bluish black line across my face!). Seeing that this was the first time my body had turned into something completely different, it took a few days for this one, but the depression had set in, and it was time to look in the mirror. (Yes, Jess has no idea about this. I always take care of this in private) So, with a quick glace around my shoulder (well, technically it wasn't a shoulder) to make sure no one was watching, I walked over to the mirror corner.

The first thing I focused on was the fact that I got to the mirrors. Had I really gotten that used to walking on 4 legs? It was scary to think about. Then I looked at the mirror. There wasn't much to see, Chikoritas don't have very fancy bodies. In fact, they're kind of plain. They don't have a real shape, just a lump for a body with a small tail sticking out the end that reaches down to form 4 "legs" with feet that are more like fingernails then actual feet (you have no idea how hard it was to even stand up when I first got them). The lump body pulls up at the end to form a hill shaped head without a neck. My face was a small muzzle, and it had a kind of cute overbite. My eyes were bright red with white pupils. The few details unique to a Chikorita are the eight seeds around my "neck" and the leaf that sticks out the top of my head and reaches back to the other end of my body. If I had that leaf on my human head and it was dark, you'd probably think it was a very long ponytail. The only other things worth looking at were the vines. They came out at about the same level as my seeds. I think two of the seeds were really the vines, but whatever, it doesn't matter.

"Sigh... this is really me." It was kind of depressing. Right that moment if I had 3 wishes I wouldn't hesitate what to wish for: 1) to have fingers so I could wiggle them. I wanted to wiggle them so badly. 2) to have actual hair instead of a leaf so I could comb it. 3) to be a little taller. "Ok, so technically I could really achieve the last one if I evolved." "You're mumbling to yourself rather loudly." "Yah!" I turned around to see Mike standing right behind me. "You know, I'm kind of worried about evolving." "Huh?" I was confused. Why was Mike worried? "Look, it's not like I think it's bad news or anything, but we don't know what we're dealing with. For all I can tell, we might not even be able to evolve. What would happen if we tried? And risks besides, we don't even know how to evolve. I don't know what 'the last one' was, and I'm not going to ask, but don't get your hopes up."

And with that, he went back over to his corner. "Sigh..." I turned back to the mirror. I wanted at least one of those wishes to come true. That would make me feel better. _Ok, so the last wish is out. The second wish is also not going to happen anytime soon, though I could tie a band around the leaf stem to make it feel more like a pony tail. _Then I remember the dream I woke up from. It gave me an idea. I focused on my vines. _If I want to make a wish come true... _I dug deep into that little annoyance in the back of my mind, and lashed my vines through the air. _I'm going to get my hands back. _Whap! "OW!" I hit myself with the backlash! "Ok, this may take a while." I tried again, but then ended up smacking them together. "Ow!" I could actually feel them sting! "Ok, make that a long while."

**Dan**

"See that you do." "Humf." Greg and Mitch started back toward their shelter, carrying an armful of berries (or in Mitch's case, carrying my marble bag full of berries around his neck), clearly upset. Seeing that they would scarf down all our food the first opportunity they got, I gave them a pile of berries and told them to eat it back at their shelter, away from the rest of us. _Ok, now that THAT problem's taken care of, I'm going to enjoy my free time. _I headed east, toward the river. On the way, I pondered about what we were going through. _Sigh, so many questions, so few answers. Why Pokémon? Why is this happening? WHAT is happening? And of course, why us? Maybe because we live in the middle of nowhere? Because we have such a small population? Or maybe... hm... you know, the adults never explained why the town hall was built so far out of town, or what the 'military' base was all about. _That brought up some new ideas, and questions.

_What could it mean? That something happened to cause this? Come to think of it, the town hall is the only building in our (not so much a) town that isn't half built. Every other building looks like it was put together with plastic, tin cans, and saw dust, even with the half done paint jobs. Why is that? The hall looked like it was made from marble (doubt it, the town's dirt poor). Is it important in any way? And why is the rest of the town made from leftovers? Bah, this is like something out of science fiction! Then again, so is being turned into Pokémon, being sent to some fake-like world, and having instincts that help us control our new bodies. Speaking of which... _I had just reached the river. It was sparkly clean today. I stuck my front right leg in to check the temperature, then dove right in. (ok, so technically it was impossible for me to dive as a Mudkip, but I went in, and it was a lot smoother than a jump in).

**John**

"Grumble grumble... it's just not fair!" I was still mad that I was the one who had been sent. Yes, I woke everyone up, but Meg deserved it! Even if I didn't do it she was going to panic the moment she woke up, so why was I being punished?! Besides, it was only a harmless joke! "Grumble grumble, and if that's not enough, the path we cut to the Michels' clearing has disappeared too!" I had to cut my way through the shrubs using a sharp stone, but it was taking forever! It would be nightfall by the time I got back at this rate! "Grumble, grumble-oof!" I was too busy grumbling to stop myself from walking right into a pile of clothes, my target! Yes! Now I could finally get back to- "What is the meaning of this?! Who's the imbecile who knocked me unconscious and left me here lying on the ground?!" I knew that voice.....I knew it, and I didn't like it. "And look at this! They wrapped me up in a blanket in a way that is so... underdone! Doesn't anyone know how to properly wrap a girl up these days?!" _Oh Dan, why did you have to punish me TODAY?!? Why, oh why?!?................._

**Jess**

"One, two, three!"..."I win again!" "Shoot!" I was playing rock stick leaf with Adam. Oops, I mean winning rock stick leaf. We'd played 42 rounds, and the score was 40-2. How in the world a guy can fail at a simple redone game of rock paper scissors I'll never know. "Ugh!" He put the stick he had in his talon down and wacked it away with his wing. "This stinks!" Sarah gave a deep sigh. "Adam, I know 40-2 is a huge losing streak, but-" "It's not the stupid game! Although it IS starting to get on my- (smack!) OW! Ok, as I was saying, the whole situation stinks!" I was lost for words. Not because I was surprised, but because Adam was being a little too general again. "You mean the whole 'mysterious world' thing?" "No, I mean the whole 'turn into Pokémon' thing! I'm a Tailow, you're a chicken- I DON"T MEAN LITERALY!!!- and my sister's a- er... what exactly are Togetics supposed to be?" "Angels? Your guess is as good as mine." "Ok, that aside, I hate it! I can't lie down, I can't grab things without landing on them, and you have no idea how badly I want to wiggle my fingers, except I don't HAVE any!"

I glared at him. "Wake up and smell the humas Adam. The rest of us are experiencing the exact same thing, well except for Mike and Tom, but that's beside the point. Look at these-" I waved my wings in front of his face. "There's no fingers on these either. All of us miss our own bodies, one way or another, even Mike and Tom, so would you please keep your whining to yourself?" My little speech got him. "Sigh... fine. But there's one thing I have to ask." I saw something like this coming. "What?" "Where am I supposed to go to the bathroom?" That one got me. "Just don't go over my head- wait, YOU HAVEN'T GONE TO THE BATHROOM SINCE YOU GOT HERE?!?!" "Er... ya." Now I really WAS lost for words. He'd been holding his bladder for over a whole day! (No, I'm not telling you how the rest of us got over the situation! Nothing says we to have to explain a really embarrassing and disgusting issue) "Sigh... there's a small tunnel around that rock that's right outside the cave. Crawl through and do your business in there. Oh, and watch the smell." "Ok..." And with that he hopped off. I turned to Sarah. "I already figured that out by myself." "Sigh... Sarah, sometimes your brother gives me the creeps, you know that?"

**Dan**

"Ah... I am in _paradise_!" I was lying in the mud on the bottom of the river (it was only 6 feet deep at max), and boy, did it feel GOOD!!! I'm sure it was because I was a Mudkip, (the Pokepedia does say that they sleep in the mud), and I was a little dizzy from the pleasure, but I couldn't help but wonder why I didn't try this back at home. The water was rushing past my gills and dorsal fin, making it really easy to breath, (er, I mean, uh, what's it called when you use gills to collect oxygen? Never mind, I think you get the idea), and the mud that was clinging to my (blue/white) skin felt like happiness itself was clinging to me. Words cannot describe what it felt like, no matter how hard I try to think of way to express it, so...let's just say I was REALLY happy.

Suddenly, my happiness was interrupted by a shadow passing over me. That pulled me back to reality. "Wha!" _Oh no, some kind of giant fish must be in the water! _I kicked frantically, thrashing my tail like a mad man (well, a mad man with a tail, what ever that is), and pulled myself out of the mud. The shadow was getting darker! I panicked; well at least my instincts drove me to panic: "DON'T EAT ME!!!!!!" I screamed. (Yes, I could talk underwater. It sounded rather echoey though, if you know what I mean) Suddenly... Pluosh! An Ekans mouth popped into the water's surface above me. It was just Mitch, getting a drink. _Ok... that was embarrassing. Hope he didn't see that... _Then I noticed that he wasn't alone. Greg was with him. _Greg doesn't need water, I told him that yesterday. What are those two up to?_ Knowing to trust the butterflies in my stomach, I swam up to the surface, a bit away from where they were standing, and poked my right gill out of the water. (I don't really know where or how a Mudkip hears, but I'd discovered a few days ago that my gills act as the markers for in/out of water hearing)

"This ain't far, Mitch. This just ain't fair." "Ya got that right Greg." "Why should WE have to eat less then the rest of 'em, huh?" "Why should you care? You barely have to eat at all!" "Havin' to eat and wantin' to eat are two different things, ya know." _Ok, so they're arguing with themselves over my orders. Well if that's it- _I stopped mid-thought. Mitch was talking, and I'd just caught the words "return the favor" Now, it was serious. "I'm lisen'n." "If they're eating all the food, maybe we should eat the food, and them!" I froze, despite it being lukewarm water. "Mitch! You're supposed to be the smart one! You know we ain't no match for them!" I unfroze. _Taking advantage of Jess's victory was a better idea than I thought. _"Yes, but what about the little ones? They don't know how to fight." I froze again. "Not a bad idea! You do it though. I'm havin' trouble openin' this here mouth!" "Fair enough. It's snack time!" And with that, Mitch slithered (well, more like rocked) away, heading for the clearing. Greg turned, and headed for his shelter.

The moment he was gone, I dashed out of the water, and sprinted back to the cave. _I'm going to need back up for this. I don't know any attacks yet. Wait a minute..._ I was sprinting, on four legs! _Whoa! There's no way I've gotten this good already! Must be my instincts helping me out. _I kept running, but turned to look toward the clearing. _I hope the kids can take care of themselves till we get there..._

**Mil**

"You can't catch me!" "Oh yes I can!" I jumped! Missed! "Oof!" "He, he, you missed me!" I was playing tag with Sammy and Tom in the clearing. It was fun, but hard! I could run faster then the other guys, so we agreed that I was always the first one to be it. Sammy couldn't run very fast, so we let him hide first. We were playing tag and hide and seek at the same time! Until I found Sammy I had to go after Tom, but he was so small it was hard to catch him! "Hold still, Tom!" "No!" Jump! Miss! "Oof!" Tom was running to a big tree, with a pair of big rocks on both sides. He was trapped! "Uh-oh." "I got you now!" I jumped! I got him! "Your turn!" "Aww..." "Ah, the little baby's upset. Now foxy, are you playing nice?" Oh no, one of the Michels was behind the rocks. "Go away, Mitch, we're playing tag." I wasn't scared of them, but I was worried that they would try and scare Tom. "Tag, huh?" He wiggled over to us, though he was wiggling kind of weird. (I don't think snakes are built to move with their heads held up in the air) "Can I play? I love being it." He was looking at Tom in a funny way. I didn't like it.

"No Mitch. It's Tom's turn to be it." "Really? He looks rather frozen it pace if you ask me." I looked at him, he was shaking. I think it was because Pichu are scared of big Pokémon, and his insticts were acting up agian. (teacher Don said snakes eat mice, so that might have something to do with it too.) I said it agian: "Go away Mitch." "Now, now, is anyway to talk to a big kid?" He coiled up like the snake he was, towering above the two of us. "You're not a kid, you know. You're a Pokémon." "Maybe so, but I'm still bigger than you." I was getting mad. "I'm not scared of you!" "Oh, yes you are. I might be new this 'Pokémon' thing, but I'm better at it then you!" "Oh yeah? Prove it!" _Oops, I think I went a little too far there. _"Prove it? If you say so!" He opened his mouth, and charged right at us! He was going to eat us! But then: Bonk! An acorn fell out of the sky and hit Mitch on the head! "Ow! Who did that!" He was mad, and started looking around for whoever threw the acorn. Tom and I decided that it was a good time to leave, so we tip-toed behind the other rock.

After we were behind it, I peeked around the side of the rock. Mitch was still looking around for the thrower. Then another acorn flew through the air and land on his head! "Ow! Whoever's throwing those acorns better show himself or so help me-OW!- I'll make you sorry!" More acorns were coming from all over the place! "OW! STOP IT! OW!" It was raining acorns! "OW! Ok, ok! OW! I'll leave OW!" And with that he stared wiggling, really slowly, out of the clearing. "You two ok?" "Yah!" I turned around to see Dan standing (well, on 4 legs) in front of me. "Don't worry. Everyone's agreed to keep an eye on you guys when your not in the cave. Go ahead and keep on playing tag." "Dan, can I ask you something?" "Sure, Mil. What?" "Who's idea was it to throw acorns at him?" He smiled. "It was Sam's idea, but Jess, Sarah, and me helped with the throwing." "Really?! Sammy came up with the idea?!" "Well, his first idea was flamethrower him, but he doesn't know how." "Oh." Then Tom's tummy grumbled. "Well, I think we've played enough for now. Let's go back to the cave and eat some lunch!" "Sounds good to me. Let's go Tom." "OK!"

**(10 minutes later...)**

**Mike**

"Ah... now that's what I call a meal." "Yeah, Adam, you ate 80 berries!" "So? It was still a meal." Adam and Jess were arguing again. No surprises there. Everyone (except the Michels) was in the cave, or right outside of it, for lunch. After we finished, everyone decided to stick around for bit, in case John got back early. Everyone was wondering who it could be. "Come on, you stupid vine! Work with me here!" Meg was arguing with her own vines. How prediactable. But what WAS surpising was that Meg was working on getting control of her vines at all. It wasn't like her to push herself for something that wasn't making herself look good (and a few other things that I can't think of at the moment, in case you think she's one of those heavy make-up wearing girls). _I wonder what she's up to? Probably none of my business, but still, I can't help but wonder... _I reached for a berry to munch on. Suddenly: one of Meg's vines came out of nowhere and wrapped itself around my (yellow furry) arm! Whap! "Yah! Meg!" "Sorry, I was aiming for the berry." She slowly unwrapped it, and then moved it over to the pile, wrapped a berry up, and pulled it back to herself.

That's when John came back. I was the first to notice, but I didn't say anything because of the look on his face. He looked like he hadn't slept for days. Sarah spoke up first. "John? What happened to you?" She got her answer, in one, stupid sentence: "What is the meaning of this?!" _Oh, no... not her. ANYONE but her_... judging from everyone's expressions, everyone was thinking the very same thing I was. "Why will no one answer me?!" A Piplup came into the cave opening, shoving John roughly aside as it did. Dan, as always, had the honor of speaking first and attracting her attention. Nobody in the room envied him at that moment, not even Sam. "Sigh... hello Samantha." The Piplup turned to face him. "Don't speak to me you...you...Australian toad!" ... "Samantha," Jess was mad about that one. "That's Dan." "Be quiet you...Australian chicken! Wait...you're my sad excuse for a cousin. And these (she looked at everyone in the room) must be the miserable lumps who listen to your senseless blabbering about helping others, you goody-goody two shoe!"

I think that explained just who she was, but here's the scoop for the clueless: Samantha is the most self-focused living being on the face of the earth. And that's a major underexageration. Sinse she was 3, she cared only about herself, made no friends, insulted everyone around her at every oportunity, and always whined when she was mad, which was whenever she wasn't locked up in her room being miss self- interest. She never had anything good to say about anyone, even if you were giving her a billion dollars she'd only take it and move on, not even looking at you if she could manage it, yet she'd be the first to point out any flaw, no matter how minor, in anybody else. She didn't pay any atention whatsoever in school, and always referred to everything as Australian if she doesn't know what something was. Oh, and she's Jess's cousin, but that only matters when the two of them get in an argument: Jess's mom made her promise on pain of allowance cut never to hit her cousin, so all she could do was argue back, no matter how badly everyone in the cave wanted Jess to crush her. Her official nickname is Smarty-thash (a compination of Smarty-pants and thrash).

"Samantha-" "Quiet! I'm not wasting my valuable time talking to you losers. I was in my room, combing my hair like any sensible human being, when my mother called and told me to take a disgusting sweater over to the needy geek's (Her name for me. Well, it's better that John's) house. Why should _I_ do it? I'm a sensible being! _(If SHE's a sensible being, then what are the rest of us?) _But, seeing that I don't have an annoying pip-squeak sibling (_I can't tell whether she's comlpaining or bragging about it_), I had to do it, much to my inconvenience. And then, after walking down a run-down street, the strats started falling out of the sky! They even went so far as to knock me down! The nerve of them! _(Stars have nerve? I never would of guessed_.) Then I find myself rapped up in a blacket that worms should live in. _(then why didn't you just stay in there?)" _

"And to top all the madness off, I found that some Australian lizard (_gecko) _who claims to be the ___ (John asked us not to tell you what she calls him. I don't blame him), and tells me that I've been turned into some Australian penguin! _(there are penguins in Australia? just how clueless can you get?_ (In case you haven't found out yet, she doesn't even look at Pokémon, let alone know anything about them) The indignity! The shame! Would someone here be smart enough to explain who in this sad excuse for a world would do such a thing to **ME**? _(anyone who could, missy. anyone who could) _But I didn't panic like an imbecile, like every moron in this half-baked room, oh no, not ME! I am above such childish things (_It's childish to panic when you've been turned into a Pokémon_?) so once I got used to this horrible body, I made that ___ carry my things, like any REAL man should be able do without my help (_considering your idea of help is to slap them untill they agree...)_, I then set off to find the fool who did this horrendous thing to me, when I should happen to come across a large stupid crowd of Australian creeps, only to find out that they are the snobs of the nieghboorhood and their welches (her definition of friends).

"Now if you pea brains don't, not that you can, mind, me and my ___ must be off. Good riddance to you, dweebs." And with that, she turned around, pointed her beak into the sky, and marched off, only to be faced with an electric mouse, that was the same height as her, who knew he had an advantage over her, and couldn't take her a moment longer. "Out of my way you moron, I have ACTUAL business to take care of, unlike you loser." That was the last straw. I snapped. "THAT'S IT SAMANTHA!!!" "Quiet! You-" "I HAVE HAD IT!!!!!!!" I felt energy surging through me, and running into my cheeks. When I felt it was charged enough, I let it go, sending a lighting bolt straight for her! ZZZZZAAAAAAPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!! She fainted so quickly she didn't even get to scream. And good riddance. However, the bolt was too powerful and I ended up zapping John too, who fell to the ground like a stone. "John!" While everyone ran over to check on John, I was struggling to stand.

_Whoa. I did it... I used an electric attack! I've been trying all day, and I finnaly got it! But... I think I over did it. I feel so weak... so drained... I'm going to have to learn how to get more control over my electricitly. Uhg..._ I toppled over. "Mikey, are you ok?" Tom was standing right next to me, and he had a worried look on his face. "Yeah Tom...just a little tired." Then I saw something incredible. His dark Pichu eyes seemed to sparkle, like there were stars in them. He didn't say anything. He just walked closer to me, till he was right in front of my face. then he reached forward, and pulled my face close to his. My insticts were going haywire, so I let them have what they wanted. I felt a small tingle on my cheeks... then it hit me. _TOM IS GIVING ME HIS ELECTRICITY!!!!!!_ I could actually see it coming out of his cheek and going into mine! As it continued to flow into me, I felt my strength coming back. After a short while, it stopped, and Tom collapsed. I reached over and picked him up. _Tom..._

The rest of the day really was a day off. No one really learned any new skills, but Meg got really good with her vines, Adam didn't crash into trees so much, and after a good rest and meal, John was joking like he'd been doing nothing but think of jokes all day. Tom got better too, though not until sunset; but then he was up, and ran around like the little ball of energy he was till his bedtime. We made Samantha a shelter, about 2 minutes away from both the clearing and the cave, and left her there, barely caring if she woke up alone in the middle of the night or not. John called first shift, I calculated when and where our next neighboors (the Matties) would show up, and we all hit the hay. Before I fell asleep however, I thought about what Tom had done. _He knew in his Pichu heart what I needed, and gave it to me, despite his young age, despite that he didn't understand how electricity worked, and even when it made him so tired......What a mysterious world we've stumbled into._


	12. Chapter 10: Depression has Set In

**Chapter 10: Depression has set in**

_June 23_

_After many hours, and many attempts, I have FINALLY __managed to gain control over these annoying vines! Whew, does it feel good to be able to grab things again, punish John again, and feel like I have hands! Ok, so technically they're not really hands, but they're as close as I can get. That besides, the best reason why I love these new 'arms' of mine is that I can write again! Well, sort of; it's kind of awkward writing with a vine sticking out of your neck, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it (Ugh, I hate it when I have to deal!). Sigh... what a rotten time to learn. Samantha... who does that girl think she is! It's bad enough that she has to insult us all like that, but to call John a-... why am I writing that__? __I shouldn't care less about that walking annoyance!__Sigh... I guess that we really are a little closer then we pretend to be, I mean he hasn't told anyone about my diary yet- NO! I do NOT have feelings for him whoever's reading this!! We're just closer friends then we make out to be! Ugh... there's no eraser! Maybe I should have thought twice before writing down what I think about this, but then again, who said I ever do? -Meg, Chikorita_

**Dan**

I was NOT the first one up, or the last one. I woke up to find Mike and Jess eating breakfast (berries and water: the perfect diet), John and Meg still asleep, and the younger guys playing around outside. _Sigh... another day as a Pokémon... _"Good morning fearless leader." Mike told me as I walked up to our 'table'. "Ya, ya, could you keep the jokes to yourself for while, Mike? I had a rough night." (I had nightmares about a Piplup was killing me with tough talk. 'nuff said) "Ok, then I'll get to the point. I have some bad news." "Eh?" "The next two lucky individuals to be joining us (not to sound like a zombie leader or anything) are going to be Tim and Brad Mattie. Now, the fact that they're going to show up is good, but the problem is where they're going to arrive." "I know, it going to be even further than any distance we ever gone from the camp before, but all the same-" "Dan, that's not the point." "Then what is?!" I was getting really grouchy. "They're going to show up in the same direction as where we put Samantha. If we don't want them to wake up with an overly self-imposed penguin in their faces, we're going to have to move her, which means one of us has to volunteer to face her fury." That woke me up in a hurry. "Oh, and the Michels want to argue with us about the eating thing, so it can't be you who faces her." Ouch. I was more than willing to sacrifice myself to move Samantha, but seeing that I couldn't, I had to order someone else to do it instead.

"Oh man, this is going to haunt me for weeks!" "Duh. That's why you're the leader and not me. You can take it, I can't." That's not very reassuring Mike." "Fine, I'll keep quiet and let you handle this." With that, he went outside. "Sigh..." "Mike seems to be a little edgy today." "I noticed Jess. He's stressed out. We all are." "You'd think a day off would have helped..." "Yes, but it also reminded us of how little we have compared to back in our neighborhood. We have plenty of free time, but we can't do the things we would have back home." "Sigh, I know. The kids are ok because they could do new things instead, but when they can't do that anymore they're going to take it hardest of all." "Yeah." We looked at each other with grim faces. Then we looked at the pile of stuff we'd gotten from everyone's clothes. I told Jess "Maybe we could use some of this stuff tonight. It could serve as great motivation for the team." "Yeah, and maybe some real cooking would be good too." "Why'd you suggest that? It's not like we have a frying pan lying around." "We have a fire and a spit. We just have to set up a few sticks and all we'd be missing is something that tastes good roasted." "Why not you, birdie?" John called over (he'd just woken up), earning himself a flamethrower which knocked him out instantly. "Well, there's one thing I don't miss: having to settle for just smacking him." "That wasn't very funny. That was scary." She sent me a serious look. "I know, and what scares me the most is that it wasn't a joke."

_Ok, now back to the matter at hand. Who to send to take care of Samantha? _I turned to John, now on the ground, brunt dark brown. _I can't send John. Handling her once is bad enough, but twice in two days? I'm not stooping that low. The kids are out, hands down. Jess wouldn't be able to control herself alone, so she can't go unless I send someone else with her, which would only make two people suffer, so she's out. That leaves Meg and Mike. Meg doesn't stand a chance out there alone, but Mike's been really stressed lately... oh, this is harder than that solve-it-yourself mystery book Mr. Beaker made me read for a report due in two days! _(don't ask) _How am I supposed to make this work?! If only I could get Samantha to come to me instead... wait... THAT'S IT!!!! _"Jess, I -" "You know how I am with-" "That's not what I'm trying to say." "Oh. What is it then?" "I want you to take the kids, including Tom, and Mike and go after the Matties." "WHAT?!!!" "And I want you tell Samantha her ___ wants to give her a foot massage, despite the fact that she doesn't have any feet." ... "Wha? Come again?"

"Look, it's simple. I don't want to send anyone to get chewed out by Samantha, and I can't go myself because I have to deal with the bullies. This way we solve both problems, Mike get's a break, and the kids get to see their second favorite neighbors." The Matties are a great pair of brothers. They're strong, honest, and hate bullying. Next to us, they're the town's heroes. They've worked with us on so many missions that I lost count months ago. In fact they'd probably join the team if they weren't so athletic: baseball in the summer, hockey in the winter, and every other sport in-between. Official nickname: the Mightties. "Ok... but two problems: the kids are going to have to face Samantha, and I doubt John's going to be willing to comply." "The kids can handle her for a few seconds, and it's only an excuse to get Samantha over here. By the time she gets here, he'll be deep into the thickets, trying to find what's out there before we go there." "What's the point? The thicket comes back every day." "I know. It sure grows fast huh? I'm thinking beyond the thicket: who knows what lies beyond." "I guess. And Dan..." She gave me a snide look. "Would you stop stealing catch phrases from your medieval war movie collection?" "heh, heh..."

**Sam**

"We're going to see the Mightties! We're going to see the Mightties! We're going to see-" "Tom, I know you're excited, but could you calm down 'till we get there?" "Ok!" Mike wanted us to be calm until we got past Sa- (um... How do you say her name again?), but it was hard to be calm! I think the Mightties are so cool! Not as cool as Dan, but still cool. "How much longer Jessie?" "We left the cave about eight minutes ago, so we should be walking into Samantha in about... 2 seconds." ... "HA! THERE YOU ARE!!!!" A Piplup started waddling over to us. "Wow. How'd you know?" I whispered to Jessie. "Deep loathing." "Loathing? What does that mean?" "I'll tell you when you're older. Say, could you, Mil, and Tom go hide over there?" She looked at a tree right next to us. Seeing who was just about to see us, We were happy to listen.

"Hello chicken girl. How nice of you to show up after leaving me in the middle of Australia!" I wanted to ask Mike if we really were in Australia, but I didn't want her to notice me. "Hello Samantha. Before you start being you, I have a message from Dan." "Hump. Has that Australian fish finally come to it's (_It's? Ouch. She really doesn't like Dan, does she?_) senses and is willing to give me the respect I deserve?" "Not yet (I don't think she meant it), he wants to talk to you, and your servant want to give you a foot massage." (_Wait, Piplups don't have feet. Doesn't Jessie know that? Wait: Is she trying something?_) "Hump. Fine, I'll go, but only for the foot massage, and if that-" "GO!!!" I think she was about to say a bad word, so I was happy Jessie stopped her.

When she was finally on her way (calling us names the whole way), I let out the breath I didn't know I'd been holding. "Ok you three, it's just a walk in the park from here. NOW, you can run around and be hyper all you want." "YAY!!!"

**Five Minutes Later...**

"Are we there yet?" "Sigh..." Tom was getting tired of waiting, and Mike was getting tired of him asking if we were there yet. Mike looked really upset, so I decided to help him out a little. "Hey Tom, race you to that tree way over there!" And I started running to the tree. A few seconds later, he ran right past me! "Wait for me!" Then Millie ran past me! Now, I knew I couldn't win (my legs were too short!) so as soon as Tom and Millie were past me, I slowed down and watched them. Tom was winning. "You can't catch me!" "Oh yes I can!" Millie really wanted to win, but it looked like no matter how hard she tried she wasn't going to win. Then, it happened.

One second Millie was a bit behind Tom, the next she was way ahead of him! "Hey!" And she didn't stop there, she kept going! She was going super fast! She kept going until she reached the tree, where she stopped. "I win!" Then she looked back at Tom, who was only halfway there, and realized just how fast she was going. "Whoa. How'd I do that?" "I think that was a quick attack, Mil!" Mike called. He looked in a better mood already. "Oh. Yay! I can do a quick attack, I can do a quick attack..." She was dancing around now. Well, I think she was dancing, she was an Eevee, and I've never seen an Eevee dance before. "Aw... I want to do a quick attack!" "I'm sure you'll figure out how to some day Tom, so just be patient." "Ok Jessie." We started moving again, and I found out some things that made me feel sad.

_I'm the only one on the team who hasn't learned how to do a Pokémon thing. Dan can use his gills, John can climb walls, Mike can use thunderbolt, Jess can use flamethrower, Mil can use her vines, and now Millie can use quick attack, and I can't do anything but waddle! When do I get to do a move?! _"You'll learn when the times right Sam, you'll learn." "Wha?! Jess, how'd you know what I was thinking?!" "You weren't thinking. You were mumbling to yourself." "Oh. He, he..." I think my cheeks were as red as Mike's. Jess turned to Mike. "Hey, Mike?" "Yeah, Jess?" "What Pokémon do you think they've been turned into?" "Strong Pokémon. That's all I can be sure of." "Sigh..." "They don't know a whole lot about Pokémon. We're going to have some explaining to do." "Yeah..." ... "Are you trying to find something to talk about that doesn't have anything to do with our current situation?" "Yeah." Huh? _What are they talking about? Why would they want to talk about something that doesn't have to do with us being Pokémon?_ _Maybe they're tired of being Pokémon, like Tom was tired of waiting to see the Mightties. Well, we've been Pokémon for over five days now, and truth be told I think I'm getting a little homesick too... And I miss being able to run as fast as Millie..._

**John**

"Ugh... How much longer?" "How am I supposed to know?! We're out here to find out what we have to face later, and for all I can tell, we might as well be walking off a cliff!" "Ugh...why did I come with you?" "Because the alternative is staying at the cave facing the bullies AND the blabber mouth." "I know that! I'm just wondering why I'm going with you instead of going with Mike, Jess, Sam, and Sugar." "Because you're the town's second-most-hard-core fan of the Mightties, and the last thing those two need is a fan girl on them when they can't even stand up right." "Sigh..."

Meg and I had been arguing like this the moment we left the cave, and we had been going at it for a good half an hour now. Personally, I was sick and tired of hacking through the thicket for the FOUTH TIME IN FIVE DAYS, but I wasn't going to stop until Meg gave up this pointless argument (I'm stubborn like that). Judging by the way she asked why she didn't go with the others for the sixth time, she should be running out of steam right about..."UGH!!!!" Now. She threw herself to the ground as best she could with four legs. "Sigh..." I stopped my hacking spree to face her. "Ok Meg, out with it. We both know the real reason you went with me is because I'm the only one who you can share your inner turmoil with, so spill the beans already, and don't say anything about how I said beans when we're both plants."

"Uhh... this whole thing stinks!!!" "Sigh... be a little more specific. It's hard to understand when you say the same thing you've been saying since we got here. Start with being a Pokémon." "I want to wiggle my toes but I don't have any, I want to comb my hair but all I have is a giant leaf, AND ALL I HAVE ON IS A LOUSY SCARF!!!! Huff, huff..." "Ok, I have to know: why are you so obsessed with the clothing thing? Even YOU have to admit that we don't exactly need any right now." "It's not because I think anyone's naked, I'm just using that as an excuse to be upset with it. The truth is that I want to wear clothes because it's **human.** I care about it so much because it's one of the few bits of humanity we can still have at this point."

"Yeah. Ok, now what about being in the middle of wherever this is." "I miss my home, my shower, my parents... and doing laundry." "I thought you hate doing-" "I KNOW!! But... I miss doing it all the same. Sigh..." She looked at the ground. "It's hard. I've been trying so hard to keep it in..." That got my attention. If she had been trying to hide it from ME, then it must be serious. "Keep what in?" "My fear." "Wha?! Fear?!" "... yes... I'm afraid..." She started trembling. Now I was REALLY worried. "Keep going." "I'm afraid of being stuck like this, I'm afraid of getting hurt in a battle, and I'm afraid of...of..." "Yes?" ...

"Oh-" She leaned her 'head' on my 'shoulder,' and started crying. "Oh, John... Sniff...I'm afraid of one of us losing ourselves to these 'instincts.' Every minute of every day I want to stay in the sun and soak it up when I hate standing still ...sniff... my attention always shifts from whatever I'm doing to a flower every time I can see one, and I've developed a desire to take up gardening when I hate even touching dirt, let alone getting close and personal with it! Sniff...And the worst part is that, they're getting stronger the more I resist them... Wha, wha..." "That's it... let it all out..." She was down right bawling now, and I could feel the tears going down my chest, which felt surprising good. _Stupid cuticle, you're messing with my sense of pleasure! Well, that is if grass Pokémon have cuticle. Hard to be sure._

"Ok, now let's focus on how we can get around these problems, so stop it with the waterworks, ok?." "O-ok..." She started to get a little control over herself, though she was still leaning on me and a tear fell every 15 seconds or so. "First off, about the human things, I think the problem is that you're trying a little too hard to hold onto your humanity. Now, I'm not saying you should stop, but just lighten up on it a little, ok?" "Ok..." "Next, about missing some things from back home, I'll talk to Mike about a shower, your parents are going to be here, you just have to wait a bit, and why don't we crack out some of the stuff you had in your bag? Here's a thought: why not smooth out your leaf like you would your hair? It's looking kind of rugged." "Oh..." She really liked that idea.

"And as for the fear, what's there to be afraid of? I really doubt we're going to be stuck as this, one way or another (I decided not to say I meant evolving if nothing else), even if you get in a battle, which is highly unlikely, it's not going to hurt as much as you think it will." She gave me a sincere look. "How can you be sure?" "I talked to Jess about it. Even the most direct blows didn't hurt all too much." "Oh..." "And as for the instincts, they're probably getting stronger because you keep fighting them. No one is going to hold it against you if you go with them, you know." "I know, but-" "And don't worry: they're not going to overcome us. I've let them run wild since we got here, and I'm still myself, right?" "I guess..."

My little speech did her some good. With that, she got off me, stood up, and turned to face me. "You know John, I've been meaning to tell you, did you have to wake me up yesterday like that?" "Sadly yes, because it would be out of character if I let it go." "Right. Thanks for the chat. Ok, let's keep going." And with that, we were hacking like madmen again (ok, so technically it's a madman and madwoman, or maybe madplants, but you get the picture). "Oh, and John?" "Yeah?" "Do you think anyone suspects that we're really close friends instead of two teens who just can't get along?" "If they did, we would never have been able to have this talk without anyone knowing." "True."

**Dan**

"Ok, for the last time, I don't care if your great, great, great, great, grandfather was George Washington, which he isn't, I'm STILL not letting you two eat with the rest of us. I don't care how royal you think you are, there's no way we're moving out so you can have the whole cave to yourself!" I knew that this wasn't going to have much effect. I said the exact same thing only 10 seconds ago, and this was time number 26. The two bullies kept using useless junk for excuses, and Samantha refused to see herself anywhere except in this cave, with no one else here. She even wanted everything we had in the cave to be left in it for her, even our beds! And she was giving me so much lip, despite her lack of lips, that it was a wonder I could even stand to stay in the cave with her, let alone negotiate with her!

"And for the last time, there is no reason why we can't eat with you! What do you want us to do, eat right in front of you and Jess with the younger guys behind you?" "And I"M telling you for the last time, you Australian fish, that I am twenty times more worthy of this dump of a shack then you and your welches, and because there's only seven of you, that makes me three times more worth of it then the rotten lot of you together!" "And I'm telling you, yet again, that that would only make you 2.3 times more worthy, and you are most certainly NOT even 1.00001 times more worthy of anything, let alone this cave!" "And I'm telling you-" "UGH!!!!!!!!!" I snapped. Now, when Jess snaps you get quiet NOW, when Mike snaps you want to plug your ears FAST, when Meg snaps you have to try and revive her, when John snaps he starts pounding the stuffing out of the nearest non-living thing and you have to stop him, but when I snap, I go a little crazy.

"YOU LOUSY ANNOYING GOOD FOR NOTHING **The following lines have been removed due to extreme threats and insults** Huff, huff... and don't you forget it!!!" The three of them, clearly startled from seeing me rave, walked out without so much as a mumble. Once they were gone, I slumped to the ground, not caring that I hit it a little too hard. _What's wrong with me? I haven't lost control like that in over 3 years, and that time was because some bullies made me miss a field trip out of the middle of nowhere we live in. Why am I so stressed? I know we've been turned into Pokémon, and the three of them can make a full grown man fall on his knees and beg for mercy, but that's still not enough for an outburst like that. Sigh... There's only one reason I can think of: the depression has set in. Sigh... I miss my real bed... and my hands... even my homework..._

I looked at the beds lying around the cave. _I' m not the only one. Mike was unusually grouchy this morning, Jess looked really tired, and when John went to explore, Meg insisted on coming along despite the fact that those two get along like fire and ice, and come to think of it, I haven't seen Adam, Sarah, or the twins today, even right after I woke up. _Then I noticed the note on Mike's bed. Gone to the river with the twins. Be back tonight, or when Adam's stomach make us. _Ok, so they went to the river... to look at themselves because the seven of us have been hogging the mirrors. Should have seen that one coming. It's even set in on them, and they've been here a day less then us. Sigh..._

_I have to do something to fight this. There's no telling how long it's going to be till we get home again, if ever. It'd be a really rotten life if we spent every minute of it being depressed... wait, didn't I read about something like this? Oh yeah, it was that book about those shipwrecked kids on a desert island who got really depressed and had to things to do to keep them distracted from their misery. _I turned to the pile of stuff we had. _Hm... If I treated this as if we were stranded on an island... then the only thing we need is some entertainment! Ok, it can't make us think of home, and it can't remind us about where we are and the fact that we're Pokémon..._

I started pulling things out and tried to find a way to use it that was fun_. We've _got_ to get around this. _I grabbed Mike's Gameboy (Ok, so a DS isn't REALLY a Gameboy, but I don't see the difference, and half the games Mike had were Gameboy games)._ We could all use this if we picked a game that doesn't require fast button mashing. _I opened Mike's pack and looked at what he had. _Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (oh the irony), Metriod, Mario, wait, since when did Mike have an Animal Crossing game? I thought he hated those! Bah, whatever, not like we're going to find anyone to invite into his town, anyway._

_Ok, moving on. Paper and pencils... hangman anyone? Crayons, markers, a mini paint kit from Jess's artist pile... we could doodle on the walls of the cave. That would lighten the attitude in here too. I've got my marbles, we could always play blind man's bluff, and a little string can go a long way in passing the time away. _My mind drifted back to my discussion with Jess this morning. _Cooked food WOULD be good, if we can find anything to cook... _I had a brain storm: we could roast some of those chest nuts from that tree in the clearing! _Man, I completely forgot about that. _(No seriously, I did. That's why I didn't mention it earlier.) _We couldn't eat the nuts raw: too hard to open. but add a little heat... _I set out to begin nut gathering. _So many ways to work around the despair... We're not hitting rock bottom, not yet..._


	13. Chapter 11: Moving Time

**Chapter 11: Moving Time**

**Meg**

"Can't touch this! Duh du-du-du, du-du, du-du! Can't touch th-" "WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP SINGING THAT STUPID SONG!!!" "What? It's the only song the guy ever wrote! You've got to give respect as the guy who wrote it!" "Which is why I'm sick of hearing the song." "Eh, fair enough I guess, but seriously-" "I DON"T WANT TO HEAR IT!!!" "Sheesh..."

I respect John. I respect him in ways even Dan doesn't, but his singing? If there was a reason to treat him the way I do in public, that was one of them. And a big one at that. Besides, he was distracting me from my personal rehab. After our discussion, I'd been trying to ease myself into my instincts, taking things nice and slow. In stead of just letting them take over, I gave them a little more control with every sun patch and flower we passed. I don't care how stupid I looked taking one more step closer to every flower we pass, I'm not going to just let go and let my instincts control me! Besides, it's not like everything depends on how quickly I adapt to my environment, right?

After we got out of the thicket, which took a good hour and a half not counting our breaks, we found that the other side was the edge of the forest. There were still trees, but they were scattered instead of all around us. Looking around, we could see that the cliffs to the North seemed to go on forever, the South was still a thicket that seemed to go on forever, looking back the forest also seemed to go on forever, and the area ahead of us just simply seemed to go on forever.

"Ok... why does everything seem to go on forever?" "Because up till now we've been surrounded by trees which didn't go on for 5 feet per tree, and cut off the view of the trees past them. Out here, there's nothing in the way to cut off our view, and besides, if you bothered noticing we're going up a hill, so of course we can't see what lies ahead." "I know that! I'm just wondering why it seems to go on forever! Don't forget we have a small forest just outside our sad excuse of a town! Ugh... I sounded like Samantha there..."

"Yes, but it's true. Well, I'm not an expert on these things,_ (Or anything except being annoying and offering advice)_ but I'd have to guess it's because we're Pokémon." ... "I mean the fact that we're about an eighth of our own size, so of course everything looks bigger than it actually is, well, at least to our eyes because we're use to seeing things from another 3 feet up." "Hmm..." I gave it some thought. "Wait... since when were you able to understand relativity?" "Since the day I learned how relatively everyone responds to my jokes." "Sigh... should have seen that coming..."

"So what do you think is at the top of this hill? Even Pokémon-sized we should be able to see around us a bit." "I don't know; I've never been out here before! It's not like we ever had the opportunity to explore this place over the years we've been living in our hometown!" "That wasn't even remotely funny." "Who said I was trying? You want me to?" "NO!!!" "Then what's the problem?" ... "Hey, we're almost at the top!" And so we were, and moments later we were at the top, and one second later both our mouths dropped at what we saw. "..." We turned to each other. "We need to get back and tell the others!" "But first, we need to take a good look at this..."

**Mike**

"One, two, three!" ... "I win!" "Sigh..." In desperation to get over our depression, we decided to pass the time away playing an alternate form of Rock Paper Scissors. I was inspired by Dan's "Rock, stick, leaf," But the problem there is that it required us to have a pile of rocks, sticks, and leaves, and if we tried carrying the piles, we'd learn quickly what the other was going to pick by where he/she reaches. That in mind, we came up with a game that not only could be played on the move, and without hands, but could even be played if we were tied up in ropes. That didn't seem really likely at this point, but hey, every detail counts.

It's basically that the two players stick one of their front limbs (for me and Jess that meant my 'hands' and her wings) out strait, or to either side. Because we each had limbs that bent differently, and were different lengths, their choice was determined by comparing their limbs to their body. Basically, the one to the right of the other one (or the opposite one is the loser went right), so we went the less than original way and named it 'I'm Right.'

Right now, the score was 29 to 28, with Jess having a slight lead on me. We were playing for 30, so I'd run fresh out of wiggle room. "One, two, three!" ... "I win again!" "Ok, so now it goes to-" "Mikey?" Tom was looking at me with puppy-dog eyes as only a Pichu can— well, at least without being a little extra dramatic, but this was genuine. " Yes Tom?" "I'm tired. Can we stop now?" _Ugh... if it's not one thing it's another..._

Jess came to my rescue. "I have a better idea." "Really?" He turned to face her. "Yeah. You're only about half Mike's size, so why don't you get him to give you a piggyback ride?" Tom thought about it for about, eh, 0.05 seconds. "Yay! Piggyback ride!" Ok, scratch the come to my rescue part. "You're so cruel!" "What? You expected me to volunteer to carry him? In case you haven't noticed, I don't exactly have hands at the moment." "Mumble, grumble..."

**Dan **

"Can't touch this! Duh du-du-du, du-du, du-du! Can't touch this!" I was heading back to the cave with a bag full of chest nuts, looking forward to some roasting. "Sigh... if John tries a Christmas joke when we're roasting the chest nuts I'll-" "You'll what?" I turned and saw John and Meg running up to me. Now, I bet most people would have stuttered and tried to apologized there, but here's a word of advice: you never have to apologize to John unless you hurt his feelings.

"I'd drag you to the river, pull you in, and see how long you can hold you breath when I'm chomping on your lower body." "Hardy, har, har. You're something else Dan, and not a good something." "JOHN! STOP MESSING AROUND AND TELL HIM!!!!" "Tell me what?" When Meg wants John to say something, it's either important, or John actually came up with a good joke (it DOES happen, once every 6 months or so).

"Well, what ever it is, it can wait till we're back in the cave with the others. No point in telling a story twice, unless Mitch ate someone, THEN it'd be worth it." Meg rolled her eyes and John shook his head, but they got the message, so we started heading for the cave...

**5 Minutes later...**

"Look Dan, I know you're trying, but you seriously need to work on your jokes!" "John, the day I start taking joke advice from you will be the day I propose to Samantha." "I know. That's why I told you to take my advice." "Ugh... the two of you should volunteer at the day care! Your bad jokes could make even the most troublesome Pichu fall asleep!"

I turned to face her. "Meg? What in the world did John threaten you with to get you to stop fighting your instincts?" She got really nervous at that. "Er... what give you that idea?" I gave her my "yeah-right" look. "Meg, you said Pichu instead of toddler. I know you hate it when we use Pokémon phrases. (That's what we call it when we slip and say a Pokémon based expression. They don't happen very often, so I didn't tell you sooner.)"

"Sigh... I don't want to talk about it." "Fine." I turned back around. If the couple wanted to think that I didn't know about their closeness, that's fine by me. (YES, I knew. I think Jess and Mike do too, but we never talk about it. If they didn't want the world to know, we were going to help with that. That's what friends are for.)

"Well, it doesn't matter, we're near the cave, so-" I was cut off by a Plusle rushing up to me a clamping a paw over my mouth. "SHH!!!!" I nodded. She took her paw off, and I turned to find Missy with Meg and Sarah with John. "What is it?" I whispered. "It's the Michels and Samantha. They're in the cave." "WH-" She clamped her paw on my mouth again. "Sorry."

"So, why don't you just kick them out?" She looked terrified. "They're armed." "Armed?" "Yes, with splinters!" "Oh no..." Splinters are among, if not, the most dangerous of Mitch's torture tools. They're rocks with sharp objects (glass, chest nut shells, nails, etc.) tied to them. They're INCREADIBLEY painful to be hit with, and they cause some really nasty bleeding when they pierce the skin.

Against a 4 foot human, they're little balls of pain, but against a 1.5 foot Pokémon with no clothes on but scarf... "Sigh..." "What's wrong Dan? I know splinters are nasty, but it's not like you to back down from a challenge." "This won't be a challenge John, it'll be a slaughter." "Huh?"

"Think about it! If they we able to get Samantha to join forces with them, then they HAVE to have something to beat us, even if they think we're much stronger then them. Samantha may be a pin head, but she's really good at picking sides (the only thing she's got going for her). Face it John, if Samantha thinks they have what it takes, then we're toast."

Meg looked horrified. "What are you saying Dan?! Are we really going to just give up?!" I gave her an angry glare. "Of course not! I've got a plan to make our losses as minimal as possible." "Losses?" I sighed. "There's no way around it Meg. If they're in the cave and armed, we just lost the cave.

**Mike**

"Ugh... where are they?!" We arrived at the place I had predicted the Mighties were going to show up, but the thing was they weren't there. Looking at my watch (which I had to wear at it's smallest adjustment just to fit it on the thickest part of my 'arm'), it said we were a little early, so the kids started playing around, I tried to relax, and Jess paced around as if she had nothing better to do. Now that I think about it, that's exactly why she was pacing!

"So... seen any good movies lately?" "Sigh..." She turned to face me. "Mike, I know we're both bored and depressed, but are you really resorting to the ultimate cliché conversation starter?" "Ok, don't talk to me then, and we'll just sit here waiting for the Mighties to show up, when we don't even know how they're going to show up." She rolled her eyes. "Come on Mike, it's not like they're going to-" PUH, two pairs of clothes landed in between us. "- pop in out of no where with absolutely no sign that they weren't here a second ago?" We looked at each other, then at the clothes. ... "Ok, we seriously need some attitude adjustments." "You said it."

The kids walked over and started shaking the piles, no doubt excited to see the Mighties, and honestly, so was I. _What Pokémon could they have been turned into? They're brave, strong, into sports... but their parents are the town's only construction workers. What do these facts point to? _I reached forward and pulled the clothes off of one of them, revealing a Machop. _Ok, should have seen that one coming... _Then I pulled free the other, revealing a Sandshrew. _Ok, DIDN'T see that one coming... _

"Mikey?" "Yeah Tom?" "When are they going to wake up? I want to play with them!" "Sigh... look Tom, I think they're going to need a moment to-" They both started moving. "Ugh..." The Machop propped himself up with his arms. "Ugh... Tim... are you ok?" Typical Matt: more concerned with others than himself. "I... I think so..." ("Pst, do you think we help them out?" "Nah, they're strong guys, they can handle it. Besides, we'd probably only add to the confusion, so let's wait till after they get their bearings." "That'll be fine, considering the kids are too fascinated to move at the moment...")

Matt the Machop (man, does that sound corny), shook his head, trying to pull himself together. Putting one hand to his head, he finally opened his eyes, facing away from both us and Tim. (Forgot: Matt's 15, Tim's 12) "Ugh... My head..." Then he saw his hand. "Huh?" He held it up to his face. "What the? My hand's grayish blue!" He pulled himself up all the way then looked at the rest of himself. "Whoa..." I wasn't sure whether he was surprised by the change, or by how big his muscles were all of a sudden. He looked behind himself, see both his tail, Tim, and the rest of us.

"Ok... I have a lot of question." "I bet you do." He looked surprised. "Mike?" I nodded. "Ok... that answers some of them... But why are we all Pokémon?" Now I was surprised. "Huh? How'd you know you've been turned into a Pokémon? The rest of us had to look at ourselves to be sure, and you don't even know what Pokémon are!" He chuckled. "As a matter of fact, we do. We don't know a whole lot, but we know what they are, and the main one." "Main Poké- oh, yeah." I think my cheeks turned even redder. _Dummy, of course they know what a Pikachu is! You can't know what Pokémon are without knowing that..._

"So, why Pokémon, where are, who's here, and what Pokémon have Tim and I been turned into?" "Yeah... What exactly am I? I can't even turn my body around to look." Tim had pulled himself up by now, but he'd been quite the whole time. He's a bit on the quite side compared to his brother, but nowhere near being less strong or kind. "Well, we don't honestly know about the first two. As for who's here, (I turned and pointed at everyone as I called them), there's Jess, Sam, Mil, Tom, and me."

As soon as I called out their names, the kids snapped out of their fascinated curiosity and went up to greet them, or in Tom's case, tackle 'em. "Oof!" "Yay! Matty's here!" He just shook his head and laughed. "Yeah, good to see you too, Tom." "Now, Matt, you've become a Machop. They're fighting types, and are kind of on the strong side, as you may have already noticed." He chuckled, and raised Tom up above his head using only two fingers. "Yeah, and I'm loving it! If I can get around the size and speech thing, and think I might actually enjoy myself!"

He turned to me. "And before you ask, I know about the speech thing because I know about the whole 'speak in variations of it's name' thing. Even if I can understand it, I know I probably only saying Machop this, and Machop that." I nodded. "Yeah, same way I knew about it as soon as I woke up." "Hmm..." Jess gave me a funny look. _Oh yeah, I never did tell them about how I woke up... and considering how I reacted... I don't think I'm going to be talking for a while... _

"Anyways... Tim, you're a Sandshrew. They're kind of like a cross of armadillos and shrew. If you can figure out how, you can dig holes and curl into a ball." "I see... but..." He held up a claw. "Why would I want to that?" ... _Ok, that was a slap in the face... _"I mean, I know it may be natural and all, but how would it help us as a group?" "Well..." I turned away. "The thing is, there're more of us." "Oh. But why would Dan or John be any reason to need such abilities?" I shook my head. "It's not them I worried about, but three Pokémon that have been nothing but trouble..."

Matt stopped playing with the kids and faced me. "Mitch and Greg I know for sure, but who's the third? There're no other troublemakers that the stars could have hit already. Speaking of which, any ideas on them? How far are they going to go? They were spreading past the forest when they hit." Now that caught my interest, but I decided to let it go until tonight. "Not yet. I have a theory, but your news gives it reason to be revised." He nodded. "Ok, so who's the third?" ... "Smarty-thash."

They both froze. "Why didn't you tell us in the first place?! Let's get back over there and give him a hand!! Which way?" I gave them a confused look. "You two think you can take her on when you've only been Pokémon for about 5 minutes? And besides, one of you has a type disadvantage to her. You do know what those are, right?" "Yeah, but if Samantha's here, I think a little of this (he cracked his knuckles) should teach her a thing or two, so let's get over there!" Sighing with defeat, I pointed the way, and they were off running that way before I even held my hand up all the way.

"Ok... how in the world can a Sandshrew run that fast?" I shrugged. "Who knows Jess, but I'm not falling behind." And I took off after them. _Man, how can I run on four legs so effortlessly? I know I've got several days worth of experience under my belt and the instincts, but this is still ridiculously fast! _Jess was running right behind me with the kids following. "Me neither, but what are we going to do when we get there? Dan's prepared to handle this alone, so if we step in we'll throw what ever he has in mind off." "Yeah, but for some reason, I think that's not going to as bad a thing as you think..."

**Meg**

_Steady... steady... _I pulled the bag closer and closer to the cave entrance. Dan's plan was simple: pull all our stuff out of the cave before they noticed we were in the cave. How was this possible? I threw a pebble in with my vine without them noticing. When the pebble hit what I'd been aiming for, the mirrors, they went right up to 'em and stated staring at themselves. Meanwhile, Dan, the twins, and I were pulling stuff out while John, Adam, and Sarah went to great lengths to make sure they didn't notice us in the mirrors.

Unfortunately, we were going at a rather slow pace. 15 minutes and we'd only cleared out about 2/3 of our stuff out, not counting our mirrors, which had a 99% chance of being left behind. As we worked, the three of them went about their business, arguing with each other about eachother, and we had to put up with it.

"How come I'M the one to lose my arms and legs? I could find a much better use for them then you two!" "Shut it, Australian snake! (_must... resist... urge... to slap her..._)" "Who cares if ya can't walk! YA can still move! I have to put up with havin' to remember to stay solid!" "Hmph! Neither of you morons has to put up with what I have to!" (How_ is a being a Pokémon penguin worse than a Pokémon snake or ghost?_) "I honestly cannot believe I allowed myself to join the likes of you!"

"Because if you came with us you'd get the cave, and we'd get someone to put off the losers without showing that we got some splinters! They ain't easy to make ya know!" _That explains why Samantha even went with them at all. She DID have her eyes on our cave... _We were almost done now, with only the mirror and our beds left. I grabbed mine, the others grabbed the rest of them, and we headed out.

"Whew..." I put my bed on the pile we'd been building up behind a boulder. "All that leaves is the mirrors, not that we're going to be able to get them..." Dan winked at me. "Oh, I think we can. Just wait till things settle down, then grab 'em." I looked at him with horror plain on my face. "Settle down?! Dan..." "Don't worry! I'll meet you back at the clearing."

And he dashed right into the cave. The rest of us cowered behind the bolder. _Dan, don't get yourself killed..._ "Hey you! Get out of my house!" _Was that too much to hope for? _"Hey!" "What are you guys doing here? I thought I told you to beat it! Now listen you --- I think it would be a good idea to cut out Dan's insults. Not because they were bad, but because there were enough to keep 'em busy for 5 minutes. Needless to say, they did what he'd been hoping for: three morons too mad to notice that we'd swiped all the stuff.

"Grr.... THAT'S IT!! YOU'RE HISTORY!!" "Oh yeah? Try and make me!" Dan rushed right out of the cave, with 3 angry hooligans after him. "What a hero..." "What an idiot! He'd better have an escape plan ready or he's toast!"

**Dan**

"Huff... huff... I'm here!" "Dan! You're alive!" "Yeah.. but I could use a hand with my leg." After some serious doubling back skills, I'd managed to lose them, but not before they toke a few shots with the splinters at me, and one of them nicked me. It wasn't serious, but it still needed a bandage. Meg came up to me. "Here" She wrapped my leg up with a cloth. "That'll help the pain."

"Not for long! I can't believe you left the cave!" "Zip it Adam, or we'll zap you again!" The twins and Sarah didn't blame me. They understood why: I was determined to get around the depression, and I acted hastily just to get around it. "Besides, it's not like everything's gone." "You're right you two, but without the cave we have nowhere to keep our stuff out of the weather. Plus they have our map of the area, so they took away one of our advantages." "Sigh..."

"Can't we just build a larger shelter? One big enough for all this?" "No Sarah. Our shelters were built into the hill. Unless we want to keep it next to THEM, we need to come up with a better plan." "Still, she has a point. And what ever you have in mind Dan, you better come up with it quick. It's only an hour or so till sundown by the look of the sun's position." "Adam, I know we're running out of time, but rushing to come up with something isn't going to help." He huffed and hopped away.

"Ugh... and even if we DID have a plan, it would take hours to carry it all. We're finished... if we ditch all this we lose our only means of fighting the depression, and if we stay with it, we're too vulnerable, and if we don't find somewhere to stay we're going to suffer during the next rainstorm." "Sigh... We're in big trouble this time." "You said it you two, you said it." We all kind of went into our own little worlds for that moment, each wandering in our little corner of the clearing (or in the twins' case, they shared their world and corner)

I layed down and closed my eyes. _What do we do? ... Ugh... I can't believe this... We need a miracle to get out of this one. What we need is some kind of shelter... any kind! Oh... what I wouldn't give to have a house to live in... but that's too much to hope for. We're in the middle of nowhere, in who know what, and we're Pokémon so even if we found a building we couldn't live comfortably there! Imagine using the toilet at this size... Sigh..._

"Hey Dan, why the long face? I thought Mudkips were happy-go-lucky creatures!" "Huh?" I opened my eyes, and saw a Machop looking at me. "Matt?" He chuckled. "How'd you know it was me?" "You're the only guy I know who can be sarcastic and caring with a manly voice." "HA HA HA!!!" He cracked up at that one. "Wait a minute... how do you know what a Mudkip is, and how did you get here so quickly? Mike said you would show up about an hour walk from the cave." "An hour WALK: key word. It's only about a 40 minute sprint, and with this body, I think I have enough stamina to keep going for another 10 minutes right now!" "Fair enough."

Then the rest of the retrieval party showed up with a Sandshrew that was obviously Tim. "Huff, huff, how come Matt's the one who gets turned into the strong Pokémon? Huff, huff..." "Pant.. The same reason Dan's the fish one, huff, Jess is the fire one, huff, and John's the two-tailed gecko with mush for brains." "I see, though the way you said it makes it look perfect for John, no offense to the grass type." "I'm right here you know!"

"Ok Dan, why are you, the others, and all our stuff here?" "Oh...er..." He looked horrified. "Don't tell me they took the cave!" "Ok then, I won't." He gave me a really sour look, but then he remembered something, and his look softened. "You're the only one who can make a super lame joke in a serious situation and not get pounded for it." "I don't know whether to be flattered or embarrassed."

"Sigh..." Mike went to spread the word, leaving me with Matt. "So... what do we do now?" "What do you mean Matt?" "Well, Mike told me on the way here that we had a cave for shelter. So what's plan B now that we don't have it?" ... "Oh, I see." "Actually..." John spoke up. "There IS a plan B." We all looked at him, then I remembered. "Oh, you mean that thing you wanted to tell me earlier, right?"

"Yeah, but seeing how everything's working out now, I think it'd be a better idea just to show you all. There's just one catch: we've got a long way to go, and we've gotta take all this stuff with us..." "Leave it to me!" Matt walked up to our pile and heaved up the whole thing! "I could use a hand with balance here!" We all just stared at him. "Yes, I know that I'm unnaturally strong!" "Ok, we'll give you a hand. John, Meg, lead away my friends."

**Jess**

"Huff... huff... how much longer you two?" "Just over this hill, and we'll see it!" "I hope so, it's getting dark!" John and Meg lead us through a hole they had cut through the thicket, leading out of the forest. Now, as much as I liked being in the open air, I just couldn't bring myself to care. We had no shelter, it was late, and I never got the chance to face the Michels!

"Mikey, where are we going?" "I honestly don't know Tom. We'll find out when we get there." "Ok." Seeing that we were almost at the top of the hill, John and Meg came down to us. "Ok, we want you all to close your eyes and keep walking till we tell you." "John..." "Trust me on the Jess, it'll make this a lot more enjoyable." "Fine." We closed our eyes and kept walking, for in Matt's case stumble with the stuff he was carrying. "Meg! Give me a hand here!" "Fine."

"Ok, everyone stop." We did. "Ok, now open your eyes, and try not to faint on us." We opened our eyes, but what we saw made us have serious doubts they were open. ... "Is that..." "Yeah." "And..." "Yep." "And..." "YES!" ... ... ... ... "Great Lugia... IT'S A TOWN!!!! WITH BUILDINGS!!!!!" "Correction: it's an empty town. There's no one here, so I figured we might as well just move in." ... "John." "Yes Jess?" "I owe you 5 bucks: you acted smart before summer ended." "Thanks."

**5 Minutes later...**

"Alright! This is so awesome!" Here's the deal: there were enough buildings for us to live by family, and still have several left over. Each had bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, with cat doors between them. They were all single story, but that was a good thing, because I was dreading have to climb stairs as a foot and a half tall bird.

The bed rooms were just what they were: rooms with beds. Ok, so they were Pokémon beds, which were basically pet beds, but they were still real beds. The bathrooms had a toilet on the floor so we could reach 'em, a low enough sink, and, get this, a shower (Oh... how I've longed for a nice hot shower ever since we got here.). The kitchen was nothing more than a table, but it was still better than the stone we improvised with.

"Oh yeah..." I ran a wing across the bed. "My nights are going to paradise... But first, a shower. Wait, can I take a shower as a Torchic?" And it turned out that I COULD, but it wasn't until the water was steaming that it actually felt good. "La-de-de-da! Ah... this is Paradise!" Knock! Knock! "Beat it John! Can't you see I'm trying to live here?!" "Considering that your definition of living is taking a shower, I don't think I'm interrupting you." "Oh. Sorry Mike, you can come in. It's not like I'm naked in here." "Fair enough."

"So, what do you want? I thought you were putting Tom to bed." "I was, and I did." "Oh. Then what is it? Need a hand unpacking?" "Yes, but that's not why I'm here. Dan's called for a meeting in Mil's house seeing that it's the biggest. He said to bring anything with even a remote clue about what a village is doing out here in the middle of no where."

"I think he's also trying to solve a few other things about this place, so bring your thinking cap too." "What about you? I have the impression that you're going to be putting forward 98% of everything worth mentioning." "Yeah, but that other 2% could be the key to solving this." "COULD, key word." "The truth is, I can't see how this all comes together. I know a lot of details, but I can't seem to pull it all together."

"So it's like having all the ingredients but no cookbook." "Yeah, except I think I might be missing something." "I see... well, we'll discuss this later at the meeting." "Ok, I'll see you there." "Yeah." And he left.

"Sigh..." I turned the water off (easier than it sounds. The faucet was one of those side-push ones, so it was easy for me to move 'em even with wings). There weren't any towels, so I had to settle for just fluffing my feathers. "Is this where we solve this? If it is, I hope the truth doesn't make this worse..."


	14. Chapter 12: The Eventful Meeting

**Chapter 12: The Eventful Meeting**

**Jess**

As I arrived at Mil's 'house' and knocked on the door, I was expecting John to open it and give one seriously lame joke for being 15 minutes late (took me forever to dry my feathers). What I didn't expect was that while John DID open the door, all he gave me was a nod and pointed back into the house. "Ok John, what did Dan say that made you decide to keep your mouth shut?" He gave me an annoyed look. "Come on Jess, you know even I can be serious if I want to be. Now are you going to come inside or not? We may be pokemon at the moment but that doesn't mean we actually have to stay outside for everything we do." "Right, right; sorry."

As it turned out, John decided he had to be serious for this meeting because the twins were with us, and they had vowed to fry anyone who took the meeting off topic. (Yes, that included Chuck Norris jokes at, whether or not the timing was appropriate) Needless to say, Adam had 'volunteered' to demonstrate, and was currently lying on one of the beds, burnt brown, and unable to say more than a grumble. (And releasing a pleasant smell remarkably similar to fried chicken.... Just saying)

One look around the group told me what was on everyone's mind in an instant. Sam, Mil, and Sarah were talking, trying to keep themselves occupied until the meeting started. The twins, Mighties, and Dan were all leaning against something, waiting patiently while getting their thoughts together. Meg, Mike, and John were all lost in their own worlds, for various reasons (Meg for dreams, Mike for planning, and John… who knows).

The only one who wasn't here was Tom. Being only 4 years old, we all agreed he would sleep while the rest of us talked. He might have been just as involved as the rest of us, but he was still a little kid, and he needed his sleep. Seeing that nothing was happening yet, I took the time to find a place to be comfy for the meeting: leaning on the edge of the bed which held Adam's burnt (and aromatic) form. (Hey, someone has to be in smacking range to him when he can move again, and I'm the best one for the job)

Mike was still getting his thoughts together, so I looked around the house to avoid making eye contact with anyone. (I didn't feel like starting a conversation). As I looked, I noticed that it was almost exactly the same as mine in every way! The colors, doors, and designs were all identical! There were only two things that convinced me I wasn't in my own 'house': the location and the beds. You see, as we were picking houses. we noticed that, minus the different designs, all the houses were located relative to our houses back home. (ex: Mike's 'house' is the closest to the forest).

As for the beds, after checking every house and comparing notes, we came to the conclusion that there were exactly the same number of beds in each house as the number of people who lived in each house. So, there were the same number of beds as there were going to be living in each house. (ex: Mine had 3: me and my parents) There was one exception: Mil's had 8. 8!!! Two for her parents, four for her uncles and aunts who live with us, one for her, and one that could only be for her older sister, but she moved out two years ago. Why would this 'world' make an extra bed for someone who wasn't coming?

**Mike**

Finally! I think I had managed to pull all my thoughts together for the meeting! I stood up, looked around, saw that Jess was finally here, and made my way to the spot in front of the door and waited for the rest of them to be ready, who were 99% done the moment I was ready. The 1% was Adam pulling himself upright on the bed, shaking the ash off, and saying something snide before getting fried again. Seeing that that was that was taken care of, I cleared my throat, catching everyone's attention.

"Ok, there is a lot on all of our minds, and we have a lot to talk about, but first thing's first: Who thinks we should invite Samantha, Mitch, and Greg to the 'neighborhood'?" I was only asking so that if they DID come and had anything to complain about I could honestly say we all agreed to it, which is exactly what everyone voted for. "All against? I can't say I'm even remotely surprised. Ok, here's how it's going to work: we're going to go by chance of solution. That means that the first thing we're going to discus, the next and last groups that will be arriving, we have the highest chance of having a plan for. Does anyone besides Adam have a problem with that?"… "No? Ok, let's get started."

"Ok, from what we know about who went on vacation before this happened (no one), there are going to be three more people showing up tomorrow, and then there's no one till the adults show up (I'm positive John would have said some lame joke there about how small our town is if it wasn't for the twins). Those three are going to be Peter, Rachel, and Simon. The good news is that they're going to all be showing up outside the forest (everyone let lose a sigh of relief). The bad news is we have no idea what the surrounding territory is like, so it's not going to be easy to make retrieval parties. That in mind, I'd like Adam to do an area sweep first thing in the morning. You ok with that Adam?" "nnneeee…" "I'll take that groan as a yes." "ggggrrrr…"

Next, the 'town' we've all moved into. Now, I'm sure everyone's noticed several weird things about these houses, so let me know if I miss any. 1) There is the exact same number of houses here as there are in our town. 2) They are exactly the same minus beds, which are 3) exactly the number of people who live in each house (everyone saw that the 8th bed in this house) except for this one for whatever reason. 4) They are organized exactly the same as our town without the (dirt) roads. 5) How in the world to these 'poke-doors' open so effortlessly for ALL of us?! Seriously: between my ears and Dan's fin it's hard to believe some of us can even use 'em. Did I miss anything?"

"Well, the water heats up 20 times faster than back home." We sent John scathing looks; the twins gave him a warning: "You know John, the only reason we're not frying you is because it's true. One more slip like that, and you'll be joining Adam." "Thanks ladies, except I'm already up, so how would you make John join me when he's already here?" Adam was up- ZZZAAAPPP!!!!! –then he was down again. "Ugh… Adam, can you keep your snide commentary to yourself for once? We're trying to hold a meeting here!"

"Cool it Meg, he's out and can't hear you." "Yeah, but it still needed to be said, Dan!" "So what Meg? He's out." "Jess… please!" "Guys, we're getting off topic here!" My warning was no good, because by then the entire house was in an uproar. Meg was arguing with Dan and Jess over the point of telling Adam to be quiet when he was out, the twins and Mighties were telling everyone to calm down, and the kids were caught up in the noise so they started talking too. The only three people who weren't making any noise were John, Dan, and me. Looking at each other, it was clear that this was getting nowhere fast, and it was going to take a while before we could- KNOCK! KNOCK! Everyone froze instantly. There was someone at the door, and knew almost all of us were in here…

**Dan**

Needless to say, the first thing that popped in everyone's mind was the cult (nickname for our 3 favorite trouble makers), and with all the noise we were making, we thought they had us cornered. I looked at the group, saw their expressions, and nodded. They were right: no point in putting it off. If we took too long they might force their way in, or worse search the other houses and find Tom. Seeing that I was leader here, I had the honor of opening the door. As I made my way to it, I felt the sweat dribble down my face (At least I think it was sweat, I don't know. Do water pokemon sweat from fear?) I might be a brave guy, but after seeing what they shot at me this afternoon, I wasn't very excited about putting my face into their crosshairs.

I crept up, put my front paw on the door, took a deep breath, and opened to the door to see: nothing but the moonlight shinning down on our 'town'. … I raised an eyebrow. (Ok, so technically I didn't have eyebrows, but what was I supposed to say? Opened one eye larger?) Yes, the darkness was better than a spike ball in my face, but I still wasn't convinced we were in the clear. "Ok… who's there?" …………… "Dan?" "YYYAAA!!!!" That voice didn't belong to someone from the cult or Tom!! I leaped right back into the house, only for the door to slam right into my face. Bang! "Ow!"

I think the group got the wrong idea from seeing me yelp, jump back and cover my face in pain. Everyone prepared for attack, but stopped when they heard someone call out. "Dan? Was that you?" It wasn't a voice any of us recognized. It was female, that much was certain, but that was all we could tell. Seeing that whoever it was knew my name and wasn't a cult member, I decided to invite whoever it was in. "Yeah, it is. Who's there?"

The door opened, and a vaporeon came in. This had mixed results, part because as an evolved pokemon she was bigger than any of us, and part because someone was here who wasn't from our town. As it turns out, she was just as surprised to see us as we were to see her. "Wow… is everyone here?" After I finished staring at how she got in the door when it's smaller than her, I spoke up. "Not quite. Now, I know it's rude to make demands, but who are you? I don't think I recognize you." "Oh? He he he… yeah, that's you Dan. Only you can make a joke like that." …

"Wait… there's only one person in the world who thinks Dan can make good jokes… Katy?!" She nodded at Jess. "Yep, it's me, in the flesh, if this even is flesh." I don't think anyone in the building could believe it. Katy, Mil's good natured 22 year old sister, was here. When she turned 20 and graduated from the only school in town, she left her home in hopes of find a profitable job so she could make a living outside our dump of a home. (No surprise: 95% of the town's population moves out some time in their lives. The other 5% are the teachers, the military base members, and me (too young to drive away on a vacation))

Mike noticed something else too: "Well… that explains the extra bed…" "Yay!" Mil jumped right into her older sister and hugged her as best as a fox and a… er… half fox-half fish pokemon could. "What are you doing here Katy?" "Well, it's a long story, and it looks like I'm interrupting something important…" I just shook my head with a grin on my face. "Not at all Katy. Besides, I think we could use a good story right about now, seeing that Adam's up again." "Nice of you to notice, fishy." ZZZAAPPP!!! Katy took one look at Adam's fried body, and started laughing. "Heh heh, I see nothing has changed by this metamorphosis or over the last 2 years…"

**In another place…**

_The People in the town hall were horrified. Not only was the entire town engulfed in flames, but when some of the more cool-headed ones tried to flee, they found the hall surrounded in flames, trapping the individuals inside. Seeing that they were doomed some snapped, some continued panicking, and some just slumped to the ground, defeated and scared. Those individuals had given up, and were trying their best to prepare for the inevitable to come. Some feared for the children, some for themselves, and some feared that man's time had come. A few individuals, however, noticed that something, somehow was telling them it was going to be alright. Was it just their imaginations?_

**Sammy**

"… and after that I decided it was high time I paid my family a visit for the first time in two years. I wanted it to be a surprise visit, so I didn't tell anyone I was coming." After Katy identified each of us as what we were, she settled down into her bed and started telling her story. I had no idea what she meant by 'CEO.' Does CEO mean caring environment officer? Whatever it was, it was giving Katy a hard time with her job, so she decided to take vacation to our town.

"As soon as I reached the edge of town, I noticed that there was a star shower going on. ("Dan, how does a star take a shower?" "It's an expression Sam." "Oh.") Next thing I knew, I saw a wave of falling stars covering the town. Naturally, I panicked and ran in the opposite direction, only to see that the entire middle of nowhere we live in was surrounded by a wall of flames." Everybody's eyes opened wide when she said that. "Does that mean that only this town's going to be involved in this… whatever it is?" I asked. Mike just nodded. "Yeah… but this asks more questions than it solves…"

"Ok Katy, continue the story." "Ok Dan. After I saw that I was trapped, I turned and ran into the town, hoping to find shelter in one of the houses. After skipping the first couple houses because they were locked, I ran into my family's right before I was struck. When I woke up, I found myself on the bottom of a lake, half trapped in my clothes, as this." She looked down at her front paws. "After I finished panicking, I found that I could breathe under water, so I calmed down, and pulled myself out of my clothes. The water felt surprisingly good against my fur so I started swimming around…" She got a dreamy look on her face before shaking her head.

"Anyway, after a while I pulled myself together, grabbed my clothes in my mouth, and swam to the surface. There, I found that it was the dead of night, and I was in the middle of some grassy plain. Seeing no need to press on that night, I spread out my clothes and slept on them. In the morning after collecting my stuff, I walked up to the water's surface to get a proper look at myself. I couldn't believe I was a Pokemon, let alone my favorite one." "Wait a minute… you like Pokemon?" "Yes Mike, I do. I'm not very good with the newer generations but-" "The story Katy." "Right, sorry."

"Anyway, after that I spent the next hour or so just getting used to walking on four legs. Once that was taken care of, I set out with my stuff to figure out where the heck I was, and I kept searching for more than three days, living off of berries I found on bushes I passed along the way. Then this morning, I stumbled upon this 'town'. At first I thought it was abandoned, but then I saw a chikorita and a…" "treecko." "Thanks John… and a treecko walking between the buildings. At first I figured that they lived here, but right as I was going to step forward and introduce myself, they headed over the hill and didn't come back. Seeing that the buildings were empty and apparently abandoned, I moved into one of the more empty looking ones."

"I spent the rest of the day there, debating on whether or not I should follow the two. Then, as the sun begun to set, I decided to take a quick swim in the lake that's just south of the town. When I came back, I saw a crowd of pokemon coming into the town and moving into the buildings. Terrified that I had invaded someone's home, I hid in the water until it was dark out, then I snuck my way through the town toward the house I set my stuff up in, carefully avoiding a … er… what are you again Jess?" "Torchic." "Thanks… I made my way to the house and found it empty."

"Relieved, I started packing up my stuff. After I finished, I started making my way back to the lake, but as I passed one house an uproar started inside, so I quickly hid behind one of the house's corners. Seeing that no one was coming out after me, I started on my way again, but then I noticed that there was something familiar about the voices I heard. My curiosity won out over my fear, so I knocked on the door, and then ducked behind the corner again to see if the Pokemon that came out was someone I knew. And as it turns out, it was. Oh! Uh… sorry about your head Dan." "Forget it. It's just nice to know that you weren't Samantha, Mitch or Greg."

"Where are those guys anyway? I didn't see anyone in any other house except a sleeping pichu- who's Tom, right?" Mike nodded. "Yeah, that was Tom. As for the three of them, they're on the other side of the thicket to the east, sleeping in a cave, thinking that they're on the top of the world." She just stared at him. "Wha? What in the world have you guys been up to?" Dan chuckled. "It's a longer story than yours, but I guess we owe it to you since you told us yours…"

**In another place…**

_The research lab was in even more panic than ever. Apparently, some of scientists expected the guards to face whatever it was that was coming toward them, but as many guards were arguing: their contracts said nothing about stopping a wall of shooting stars. Other scientists were undisturbed by the coming destruction, only concerned with collecting as much data on the monstrosity to come as possible before it hit. Others, like many parents in the hall, just slumped down, defeated. One guard however, just kept on staring at the wall of stars. He didn't know why, but for some reason he felt compelled to remain calm. "What in the world is going on here?" _

**John**

"… And then, with his sword drawn high, he-" "JOHN!!!" I cringed at all the people simultaneously yelling at me. "Sorry, sorry; couldn't resist…" I was adding on the Dan's run with the bullies. Up till then, I'd been good, honest! … Ok, so I slipped with Mil's clothing obsession. … And at Jess's waterfall run. … And at Jess's battle with Mitch and Greg. … And at Samantha's arrival to the cave. … And at what me and Meg talked about on our way to discovering the town, but I promised Meg I would joke about that one, so it doesn't count! _Ok John, everyone's REALLY mad at you now. Just keep your mouth shut… resist temptation of a lame joke… _" "...And who'd of thought that there was a town at the other end of the hill!" _Oh... heck!!! _Yeah, complete with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow next to it!" ………… _Oops. I did it again… and with one of my more pathetic ones... _"John… I think you might what to start running." I took one look at Jess and Meg's faces, and I started sweating bullets. (At least I hope that was sweat going down my back. I don't know, I'm a grass type!) "Thanks for the tip Dan, thanks for the tip…"

**Mil**

"Well, I honestly can't say I feel sorry for those three creeps. If they were shooting splinters at you when it was clear they would do more than scratches, they deserve to stay in the cave!" "Glad you agree with us." While Meg and Jess chased John around the town, Mike and the Mighties finished the story for Katy. I was so happy that my sister was with us! The last time I saw her was years ago! I missed her so much… sigh. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get around the feeling that something was wrong. Yes we were together, but we weren't human, I couldn't hug her right, and she can't comb my hair like she used to… … "Mil, are you ok?" "Huh?" Dan was standing in front of me. "Oh, yeah…" I looked away. "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." "Yeah, but…" … "You're homesick, aren't you?" I looked back at him. "Yeah, I guess. I just really want to see Katy as she really is…" He put a paw on my head. "I know. I know how it feels to want to see someone's face you can only remember…" I didn't say anything. I know Dan was trying to make me feel better, but I also knew it was hard for him to talk about his parents…

**Meg**

"Seeing that we are all back, in place, and calmed down…" Mike looked at the equally fried Adam and John, huffing Jess and me (sheesh, John sure knows how to dodge!), and cuddling Mil and Katy. "… I'd like to continue the meeting." "Huff… huff… sure thing Mike… huff… huff… just get started already…" He nodded to me. "Sure Meg. Ok, moving on from where we left off, does anyone here have anything to add about the houses?" … "Nothing? No one has ANYTHING to say that's not a joke?" … "Guess so… sigh… ok, moving on… we move to the big questions: why Pokemon? Why us? And where the heck are we? Anybody have any leads to any of these before I put forward my new theories?"

I raised a front… er… leg. "I don't think any of us have any clue why Pokemon, even you Mike, so could we skip that one?" He looked surprised for a moment, then just grinned and nodded. "Ok Meg. Anyone else have ideas to put forward on the other two?" Dan raised a paw. "Well, this might not be tied to any question, but did anyone notice anything weird about the terrain?" Everyone, including Mike, shook their heads. "Well, it might not be to scale, but the terrain is similar to back home." … "No seriously! Think about it: there's a small forest outside our town, and there's a forest in the same direction to this town. There was a small oasis next to our town, and there's a lake in the same direction to this town!"

Everybody thought about Dan's words. He did have point. It wasn't to scale, but it really was the same. Even Mike seemed surprised. "Hm… interesting finds Dan. I'll to give that some thought later. Ok, any other thoughts?" Jess raised her wing as best she could. "Huff… no town square in … huff… this town." Another thing we never noticed. Next Sam raised a hand/foot (I can't make up my mind on whether he's 2 or 4 legged) "Well, there's exactly the same number of houses as there are back home…" … We couldn't hold it. We all just started laughing. "Huh? What's so funny?" I pulled myself together enough to answer. "Heh, heh… Sam, Mike already said that earlier." "Oh. Sorry!" The blush on his face was all too plain to see.

"It's ok Sam. I think some of us forgot about it anyway." "He, he… thanks Meg." I love how easy it is to cheer that kid up. Wish the same could be said for Adam, who had just gotten up for good this time by making sure to watch his tongue, and was clearly in a bad mood after the… eh… unknown amount of frying he had gone through the past few minutes. When Adam was in a bad mood, it took more than a lame joke to cheer up. Right that moment though, I have to admit I didn't really care.

"Ok… now that we're all calmed down again, let's get back on track here. Does anyone else have something to say?" … "Ok, guess not. Sigh…" Mike took a deep breath. "With that taken care of, I'm going to share my new theories." Looking around the room, it was clear that this was the moment everyone had been looking forward to. Everyone simultaneously starting shifting around a bit like they were getting comfy, but the looks on everyone's faces told a different reason to the movement: nervousness. Think about it! You would be too if someone was going to tell you what he thought about the world you stood on that might change your outlook on life!

"Ok, from what I noticed over the past few days, I'm afraid I have no idea why this… event targeted us. (Everyone sighed at the same time) But I do think I know what it has to do with us. (Cue the question marks over our heads) You see, after taking the time to think back to our home town, the more I think that something happened out here in the middle of nowhere we call home." Even Adam was surprised by that. The idea of our town being the location of something- wait a minute. "Hold on, what do you mean by 'something happened'?" Mike looked at me. "Well, let's go over the facts for a minute."

"1) We live in a wasteland that's completely surrounded by lush wildlife minus a small forest outside my house. If the area is so nature friendly, why is our town sitting on only dirt? 2) The town hall is the only building in our town that doesn't look like it was made from scrap metal, but it's 3 MILES OUT OF TOWN! Why? 3) We may not be a big town, but we can still afford better houses than the piles of junk we live in. Why doesn't the mayor want to build better houses? 4) There's a huge military base 3 miles out of town, but the most military action the place has ever seen is when Samantha paid them a visit. (Don't ask. It's so stupid a reason to go to a military base that the entire town agreed to never tell a soul why she went.) If it's such a big base, why doesn't the military pay more attention to it? 5) Whenever we ask our parents about why our town is such a dump when it could be put back together, they refuse to answer."

We all turned to Katy, who was glancing out the window, pretending not to notice the rest of us looking at her. ……… "OK, ok." She caved. "We are hiding something from you guys, but it's for a reason, and I can assure you, there is no way it's connected to this… whatever we're dealing with." … "Look, I've been sworn into not telling anyone without permission. You guys are going to have to wait until the adults show up, and then ask them." We all just sighed. "Ok Katy, we'll let it go for now, but we're still going to press you and the adults when they show up." Katy sighed when Dan told her that. Now I was really worried about all this. What in the world could have happened that every adult (and Katy) would agree to not tell any of us?

"Ok… so clearly we have no answer to why this is happening to us." Mike's answer led to a chorus of groans and sighs. "Sorry guys, unless I find out what happened, there is no way I can make an accurate guess here. Before you object Katy, even if it isn't connected to this, there might be something important involved with it." Adam chose that moment to speak up. "Look Mike, I know you hate jumping to conclusions, but you at least give us a guess? I think we all could use something to go on, even if it's probably incorrect." We all just stared at him. "What? What'd I say?" Sarah answered him. "That was the only smart thing you've said since you got here." … "You didn't have to put it that way, fairy girl." ZZAAPPP!!!

"Ok… seeing that Adam put forward a good point, I guess I'm just going to have to make a guess. Hm…" He crossed his arms for a minute. Obviously, he hadn't prepared for this. Can't say I blame him. Between his brother, the inventing, and everything he had to put together, it's a wonder there aren't dark circles under his eyes. (Then again, maybe there were under his fur. It's hard to tell sometimes.) "Ok, this is a long shot, but here goes: what ever happened back then, someone somewhere saw it and decided that this town would be the perfect place to try whatever it is that did this." … "I did say it was a long shot! Don't look at me like I'm lying!"

"Ok, now as for where we are… I have a theory that may or may not be accurate. That in mind, I'll give you guys the short version. I think this 'world' is some kind of extreme virtual reality." Everyone's eyebrows (even if they didn't have any) rose at that. "English translation: a virtual reality where scenes respond to things inside." Everyone was still a bit confused, but we got the picture. "

I have no idea how we got here, who sent us here, or why it's like this." He held up his front paws to his face as he said that. "But what I do know is that whoever did it doesn't want to destroy us." We all gave him funny looks. Half said 'oh really?' and the other half said 'I didn't think that was a possibility before you said that.' "Look, if whoever did this had the technology to do it, then they must certainty have the technology to destroy us. Unfortunately, I have no idea why they want us alive, or why they're doing it in the first place, but at the very least, we don't have to worry about being killed. Hm…"

Mike gave me a funny look. "What is it Mike? Why are you looking at me like that?" "Well, seeing that you were always the one that thought we were abducted by aliens, I thought you would give a huge sigh of relief right there or something-" "WHO SAID I HAVE TO REACT TO EVERYTHING I'M TOLD IN A DRAMATIC WAY?!?!?!" Mike clutched his ears as best he could. "Ugh… watch it Meg! When you yell at me directly it hurts my ears!" "Humph! If it wasn't for the fact that I know it's true I would say that was an excuse!" I was in a bad mood now. And seeing the look on Mike's face as he massaged his ears told me he was too. _Sigh… I have got to teach myself not to overreact like that anymore. It might be just an ear ache now, but who know what I'll do next?_

**Dan**

After Meg's outburst, the younger members of our group decided to go home and go to bed. Seeing that the house we were in was one of those, we all headed outside to wrap up the meeting. Looking at everyone's faces, it was clear that no one was in a good mood. John and Adam were still smarting from their frying, the twins, Jess, and mighties were tired from all the arguing and wanted to go to bed, Meg was still angry, Mike's ears were still ringing, Katy looked distracted, and I was sick to my stomach from the news that something must have happened to us. Why? Well-

"Ok, seeing that we all want to go to bed, I think we should just put in any last minute comments, and then hit the hay. Does anyone have anything to say?" … "No? Ok, good night everyone." With that, Mike turned around and headed back to his house. Everyone followed his lead and headed back to their houses. Looking at their faces as they went, it was clear that everyone was grumpy because of how late it was (around 2 in the morning) and would be in a better mood in the morning. Seeing that I was the only one still out, I made my way back to my house, the only one with only one bed.

Why was I so sick to my stomach? I knew something had happened to our town long before this meeting. I knew something about it no one else did, but I didn't want to share with the others yet. Now, I didn't have a clue to WHAT had happened back then, but I knew exactly WHEN. _12 years ago, March 17: The day something happened in this town; the day the current town mayor was elected; the day I became an orphan…_

**Meanwhile… **

_Greg was upset. It's easy to see when he was upset, even more so now that he was a pokemon. His eyes always got a haunted look in them, and his new big red ones stuck out in the dark cave. They had their beds with them, but he was too big to use his, so he was at the mercy of the chilly air in the cave. The only reason he was able to stand it was the knowledge that they had overpowered the rest of the neighborhood. Looking at the pile of splinters they'd put together, it was clear that they, not the rest, were the ones with the power, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong, and it wasn't just that the losers had managed to steal all 'their' stuff from them._

"_Mitch, ya up?" "Yeah, I can't sleep. Even while I'm coiled up I can't seem to keep out the cold with my-" "Never mind that. I got a fellin' we're missin' somethin'. Somethin' important." "Like what? We have their food and water supplies, we have the cave, and although they managed to swipe our stuff while our back was turned we proved that we're stronger than them. What could we miss?" "Hm… I don't know, but I ain't likin' it. What if they had another cave, one bigger an' better than this one? They knew we were stronger, so why'd they go and show us the cave if they knew we could take it from 'em?" _

"_Hm… you have a point there Greg. Tell you what, tomorrow we'll take some splinters and go weakling hunting. If they're in another cave, we'll find it and take it, and this time we'll keep all the stuff. If they don't, then we'll find where they are hiding, attack, and take all our stuff back." Greg's permanent smile grew even bigger. "Yeah, I can't remember the last huntin' we did. This'll be real fun." "And don't forget, you two stooges…" Samantha had been listening in on their conversation. "I get all the good loot, and I get to pluck the chicken…"_


	15. Chapter 13: Mark Your Territory

**Chapter 13: Mark Your Territory**

_June 23, (has it really been 5 days since they got here?) __Yay! Big Sister's here! Well, I kind of knew you were coming, but it's still good to see you! Oh... I've missed you so much! (Me too Millie.) I have so much to tell you! But... Should I start with back home or what's been going on here? (Well, the others kind of told me what's been happening around here, so what's the big news back home?) I joined Dan's team! (WHA! Really?!) Yep!! I'm an offi- fi- (official) yeah, official member! We've done so much together! We rescued puppies, we stopped bullies, and we even got to go into the forest! (Sounds like fun.) It IS fun! But... now that I think about it, I got lost in the forest once with Sam. It was scary..." (There, there, it's ok.) Yeah, you're right big sister. We're not lost anymore. We found a home... (Millie fell asleep after that, leaving me to my thoughts. Seeing that the others had put together journals, I put this together for Millie. I hope she sleeps soundly for nights to come...)_

_-Millie, Eevee (told to and written by Katy, Vaporeon)_

**Dan**

When you wake up in the morning, how long does it take you to remember what happened late last night? I'm sure everyone's response to this question is different, but mine kind of sticks out. Why? I always remember WHAT happened the night before, but I sometimes don't remember why we did it! (Seriously, I once forgot why we went to a firework show on the fourth of July! (Yes, I did. I will say no more of it.)) Fortunately, after many years of experience, I put together a plan of action whenever I wake up with mild amnesia, like the morning after the meeting. That plan is: look around me and see if anything jogs my memory. (Yes, it's crude, but it works… 54% of the time.)

"Let's see: in a building, on a cat bed, still a Pokemon… nope, no clue what we did last night after we arrived in this 'town.' Sigh… guess I'll have to ask someone. Ugh… I hate it when I have to ask for a reminder like this! It always reminds everyone of the 'spark raid' fiasco (Don't ask, my lips are sealed!). Grumble, grumble…" This was going to be a long day. It's ALWAYS a long day when I wake up grumbling. (It's a proven scientific fact. No seriously, just ask our science teacher.) Long or not, I still needed to get out of bed, and having woken up shortly after sunrise for the last few days, it felt impossible to get up without sleeping in for a few more hours. (Un-)Lucky for me, I had a helping hand that morning.

GURGLE… "Ugh… either I ate a pile of rocks last night, or this is the hungriest I've been in weeks, and that's not including that time the (sad excuse of a) candy store closed for a week! So hungry… Just ignore it… sleep in… don't pay attention to the-" GURGLE… "Heck with it, I'm getting some breakfast!" After we got the village, one of the first things we did after choosing our houses was dividing the rations equally. In the end, we all got 10 berries a pokemon: 5 for dinner, 5 for breakfast. We were planning on going on a territory safari for more supplies the next morning. (Yes, I remembered that! It's called LATE night amnesia! Sheesh)

Just as I was about to toss my light breakfast into my half-of-my-head mouth, I heard a knock at the door. "Sigh... John, I already know the answer to the joke." "Yeah right! I haven't told anyone this one yet, so how can you know-" "A battery and 3 coconuts." ... "Dang! Mike, you said-" "I said _**I**_ never told him." (_hm? Why's Mike at the door with John?_) "Then how'd he find out!?" "Meg told us the answer last night before you showed up, and whispered it to Jess when your back was turned." "Aw..." I heard John shuffle away from my front door as Mike came into my house. "Dan, we need to talk."

"Can it wait until I finish my breakfast?" I popped two berries in my mouth, savoring the flavor. "... Dan, do you have morning amnesia again?" "Ok, what did we do last night that's more important than breakfast?" "I'll take that as a yes." His (cute) face winced. "Ugh... I hate it when this happens. It always reminds me of the spark raid when you-" "Which is why it'd be a good idea to refresh my memory BEFORE anyone else gets such a reminder." He shook his head, trying to forget the past event. (Rather unsuccessfully, judging from the look on his face.)

Well, we had a team meeting, Adam did a terrain search, so we sent Jess, Sam, Sarah, Matt, and Katy (_I guess she showed up last night_) went off to find Peter, Rachel, and Simon. Katy showed up as a Vaporeon. She told us that the neighborhood was hiding something. I put forward my new theory." I thought for a minute. "Hm..." "Oh, and John was chased around the neighborhood." I nodded. "Ok, now that sounds about right." I swallowed and popped another two berries in my mouth. "So... what do you want to talk about?" "Well..." He put a front paw behind his head and had a worried look on his face. "I want to talk to about the 'event' that Katy mentioned."

"Well, what about it?" "You see, I'm worried what it might be." He crossed his arms and looked to the ground (signs of fear for him. Haven't seen 'em since the Valentine's Day dance. (No, I'm not saying what happened or who it was he was scared of)) "What in the world could have happened to our town? It can't be something small, or there'd be no point in keeping it a secret, and what could have happened to our sad excuse of a home that the adults wouldn't want us to know about?" "Hm..." I turned away to chomp the last berry.

It wasn't obvious, but I could tell there was something wrong with him. "Mike, are you getting enough sleep?" He didn't look happy I was getting off topic. "Considering that I stayed up till 2 in the morning last night, got no sleep, and woke up at 5 in the morning to send Adam on a reconnaissance mission, YEAH, I THINK I MIGHT BE HAVING SLEEPING PROBLEMS!!!" I cringed when he raised his voice, but I toughed it out. I could tell Mike was in desperate need of help if he was all tense like that, and there was only one way I was going to truly calm him down: get him to let it all out. "I guess that explains why your tense and stressed out-" "STRESSED?!?!?" _Here it comes..._

_"_I'M A POKEMON, I 'M STRUGGLING TO PULL MY THOUGHTS TOGETHER, AND I'M BEING DRIVEN CRAZY BY HOW MUCH I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT!!! I HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WHERE WE ARE, TOM, MY PARENTS, AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD AS WELL AS THIS SECRET THEY'RE HIDING FROM US!!! I DON'T WANT TO PUT UP WITH THIS!!! I WANT TO BE OUT OF HERE; I WANT TO BE HOME; I WANT TO BE HUMAN AGAIN!!! Huff, huff..." Mike sat down on his backside, utterly exhausted. Now I was confused, and a bit deaf. Mike, the biggest pokemon fan in the town, wanted to be human? After my ears stopped ringing, I pressed him.

"Mike, are you sure you're ok? I didn't think you'd want to be human again so much after only five days as one. (Man, has it really only been 5 days? it seems more like a year since I first pulled myself out of my clothes) Besides, you're the most human-like pokemon here besides Matt. You're lucky, you still have hands." "Hands..." He held his hands up to his face. "Yeah, they're hands alright, but they're not mine. Not my human hands." He put them back down and sighed. I didn't say anything. I could tell he had something he needed to say.

"When I first got here, I jumped around like a maniac. I was a pokemon! On top of that my favorite! It was so awesome, so unbelievable, I thought I'd never get tired of it, but..." he turned his head down. "Now, after all this time, I've come to realize just how much I miss my own human life. Yeah, I'm still more human than everyone else, but that only makes it worse." Now I was REALLY confused. "Uh, Mike? Wouldn't the closer resemblance make it easier to deal with losing them?" "Yes, but it also makes it harder to forget them." He shook his head.

"You're lucky Dan. You have four legs, so it's completely different form being human. Everything is entirely new, so you don't know how everything works right off the bat, and it's easy to forget what you've lost to get it. But for me... every time I stand up right or use my hands as hands instead of paws, I'm reminded what I've lost. And the worst part is..." He looked like he was about to break into tears. "I... I don't know if I'm ever going to get it back!!" Now the tears DID come, and they came hard. I felt sorry for the guy; he almost never breaks into tears. _He must have been holding this in for awhile. Guess I should have pressed him about it sooner. Sigh..._

"Mike... It's ok." I put a front paw on his 'shoulder.' "No one said you have to calm about all this. It's ok to panic now and again, you know." He shook his head. "It's never a good thing to panic." I glared at him. "Yeah, but it's worse to keep your feeling bottled up like that. Now, next time you feel like panicking, don't be afraid to let it out a little." He wiped the tears away as best he could. "Are you sure it's ok?" I grinned. "As team leader, I order you to let it out when you have to." We just stood there for a minute, looking at each other for inspiration. (Ok, so I was looking for inspiration to go to him, but it's still true.)

Finally, he pulled himself back together. "Ok... ok. So... where were we?" I gave him a you-tell-me look. "I was just teasing! What do you think the event might be?" I shrugged my 'shoulders' as best I could. "I have no idea, but I suspect something tragic." Mike nodded. "Yeah, I figured as much. Anything else come to mind?" I turned away. "Yeah, but I don't want to talk about it." I could tell Mike had a confused look on his face with my back turned. "Let me guess, it has something to do with-" He stopped himself mid-sentence, but the damage was done, and my mood plummeted.

"Er... sorry about that." ... "Hey, uh... while we're waiting for the retrieval parties to arrive, wanna do some territory marking?" Say what?! That got me out of my slump in a hurry as I turned around to give Mike a look of horror. "The OTHER kind of territory marking." "Oh. ... Whew, for a moment there, I thought-" He held a paw up. "I don't think I WANT to know what you thought. Let's just get going before either of us gets any ideas." "Agreed."

**Sam**

"For the last time Adam, I am NOT going to let you go within 40 yards of whoever we find first! This is the last retrieval mission till the adults show up, and I'd like to have at least ONE retrieval that goes according to plan!" "Fine! It's not like I want anything to do with the baby, brat, or crazy one!" "WHAT DID YOU CALL THEM?!?!?" Jess and Adam were arguing again. Weird, usually they start glaring at each other by now. Oh well, I think I'll let them argue how they want to. The rest of us (Matt, Sarah, Katy, and me) just kept walking, pretending to ignore them. (At least that's what Katy said we were doing)

Because we were not in the forest anymore, there were fewer trees around us, and we got to enjoy seeing lots of cool looking plants and berries. We tried a few of them as we kept walking, but some of them were spicy or bitter, so Matt of Katy tried each new berry before we did. (I don't like spicy. And I don't know what bitter tastes like, but it doesn't sound very tasty). It was nice to have something different to eat then the berries we'd been having for the last few days, so it was great!

"So Katy, how's the pokemon experience?" "It's been good actually. I kind of miss having hands, but I've gotten used to it. And it's nice to be able to breathe underwater. But I wonder if I could figure out how to do a vaporeon's special ability: to turn into water. I'd like to give it a try sometime!" Matt chuckled. "You always were a sucker for new experiences." Matt and Katy were talking, so I couldn't bother them either. Guess that leaves Sarah, though I don't know if she'd like to talk with me. "Sam?" "Hm?" I turned around to see Sarah looking right at me. _Guess I was wrong about that guess. _

"Yes Sarah?" "Um... what pokemon do you think Peter, Rachel, and Simon are going to be?" "Hey, that's what I was just about to ask you!" We both giggled. "Well..." I put a hand up to my chin (wait, did I even have a chin anymore?) "I think that might reflect on their personalities. Aw... I wish I knew my pokemon better! If I did, I might be able to figure out what they'd be!" Sarah smiled at me. "Yeah, that's too bad. Oh well, guess we'll just see when we find them." "Yeah!" I was really excited now! I couldn't wait to find out what pokemon Simon was...

**Mike**

"I don't believe this. I don't believe it and after everything I've gone through the past few days I thought I could believe anything, but no!" "We get the message Dan. You can stop ranting now." Dan blushed when I said that. "Oh yeah... sorry." We (Dan, Meg, Tim, and me) were just about 6 yards south of our town, looking at a giant lake that stretched out to horizon. What's so unbelievable about that? The water source that it was relative to (Mike told me about my world-area relativity idea), was smaller than a bathtub. It was an oasis that was so small that a new born baby could touch the bottom (not that anyone's ever tried. The water's so green from bacteria it's a wonder if ANYTHING could live after touching it.)

"Ok... either this proves my theory or it throws it out the window; I can't be sure." Meg shook her head. "Probably both. Not only because it's WAY off scale, but it's actually safe for you touch it." Tim nodded. "Yeah, not that I'm really going to be going into it, but the water looks clear enough to wash dishes in. How the heck did this form from that (insert inanimate object insult here) oasis?" Dan shrugged. (Or at least the mudkip equivalent off a shrug) "Dunno. Maybe it wasn't always a (insert the same inanimate object insult you used above) oasis." "Hm..." "Oh, come on you guys!" Meg was the only one who didn't pause for thought at Dan's suggestion.

"It's not like we used to have a giant lake here!" Tim crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "We don't know for sure Meg. We know SOMETHING happened. Maybe-" "Oh, please!" Meg rolled her eyes. "I can see the old newspaper headline already: Small Town's Explicit Water Source becomes Bacteria Farm. Yeah right!" We all glared at her. "Meg, didn't we have a talk about jumping to conclusions? Remember what happened last time?" Meg's attitude visibly dropped at Dan's reminder. (For the curious: she jumped to the conclusion that Adam would never have anything nice to say about her and told him so, right before he was about to ask her to the Valentine's dance. She probably would have turned him down anyway, but then she would actually have had SOMEONE to dance with.)

"Ok, ok, so I can't say anything about what could have happened..." Meg's composure came back as she changed the topic. "But while I'm on the topic of past events, I'd like to question something: You guys have clearly just noticed the lake, so how the heck did you guys miss this when you first showed up at this town when it was the second thing John and I noticed?" (Cue duh-moment sound effect of choice)... "Er..." We all looked at each other; hoping one of us had something in mind that could save our pride. I had an idea, but it wasn't a very pride-savoring one.

"Well... the sun was setting so we couldn't see that clearly, and because we just lost the cave I guess we were a little to preoccupied with our current predicament..." Even as I said it I could tell no one believed it, even though Dan and Tim were both looking for an excuse themselves. Meg didn't say anything, but her look clearly said "Nice try hot shot. Any other bright ideas?" "Sigh..." Dan sighed. "Ok, you got us Meg. Now that we're done with that, how about we move on? It's almost noon, and we've barely set 6 yards off. We still have to find rations for the others, so let's get moving! Meg, you can lead, since you're clearly more aware of your surroundings here. "

Tim nodded, I sighed in defeat, and Meg led us with a smug look on her face. No sooner had she marched past us, Dan and Tim started planning a counter as we followed her. "Ok, what should we play here: Fear, guilt or shame?" "Definitely shame. Did you see the look on her face? She thinks she's got power over us! Mike, do you have any ideas we can work with?" I shook my head. "Dan, Tim, I know you two hate swallowing your pride, but since when did you start planning revenge against Meg for making you do so?" Dan grinned in a sidelong sort of way. "I promised Jess and John yesterday that if she ever got any power over us we'd bring it crashing down."

I tilted my head at Tim in confusion. "I can understand John asking such a request, but why Jess?" Tim shrugged. "Dunno. My guess is that she wanted to pay her back for that 'mime-relation' insult she told Samantha." "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. She never did forgive her for getting Samantha to yell at her like that." I nodded. "So true Dan, so true." My right ear twitched for some reason after that, but I passed it off as the wind...

**Jess**

_Hm... _"Jess, are you listening to me?" "Huh?" I opened my eyes to see Katy standing in front of me (more like towering over me, she had almost 2 feet on me). "I just asked you if you thought this place is ironic for Peter to show considering he's so timid?" We were at edge of a waterfall that was even BIGGER than the one South-East of the cave. Why there was a giant cliff this close to a giant lake that WASN'T attached to it was beyond me, but I'd given up question the terrain of this place a LONG time ago.

After Adam came back from his reconnaissance that morning and described the places the three were going to show up, it was clear that a water type was going to have to be for Peter (dangerously close to a waterfall), a flying type for Rachel (other end of a impassible thicket), and Matt for Simon (the area was covered with boulders for whatever reason.). After giving it some thought, we decided to send pairs of two after each group.

Because Dan was still asleep, Katy had to go, and because Peter trusted me better than anyone else in the town besides Dan, I volunteered to go. For Rachel, seeing that there were only two of us who actually COULD fly, we had to send Adam and Sarah (hopefully she'd keep him in check). For Simon, being young, we needed one of our younger troopers to go. Tom was out, Mil was keeping him busy, so Sam went with Matt. All in all, it was a good plan, but before we split up something I heard Sam say caught my attention: what pokemon would they become?

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry, I was just thinking." She nodded. "I understand. Might I ask what you're thinking about?" "Well... I wonder what determines what pokemon everyone becomes. True, personality comes into play, but what else? I don't think John can be considered the 'treecko type' if you know what I mean." She nodded in agreement. 'Yeah, it is weird. Some fit the bill perfectly, others not so much. Looking at Mike and Tom as well as Millie and me, I think family plays a part too. Maybe John's parent's personality comes into play or something." "Hm... that's not a bad idea. In fact, it actually makes sense. Still, with no clues to point toward our new arrivals, there's no way to be sure what everyone will show up as. "True."

Peter was the town's 9 year old shy boy (there's one in every crowd). It's not that he's wimpy or cowardly, he just can't seem to meet people in the eye. It not a family trait for certain, just look at his army-man father. Despite his shyness, he is very friendly, gets along well with others, and rarely has anything negative to say. In fact, I'd heard rumors that he's been trying to pull up enough courage to ask to join the children's police, and judging from the longing looks he gives us every time we past his house, that's probably true. He's also very smart, but you wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at him. He's also the second most popular bully victim in town.

Rachel was, next to me, the town's biggest 14 year old tomboy. She's a good person, but she is a bit pushy, and likes to play things by her rules. On a scale of 1 to 10, her good will is about a 5, her self-confidence is about an 8, and her sense of respect for others is about 6 or 7. (Compared to my 9, 7, 9, and Samantha's 0, 20, -10, that's not bad.) She not necessarily a trouble maker, but she is rebellious with her parents, and loves to party. She's also a hard-core video game player, and is always challenging Mike to battles at various games for various systems. (No knows the overall score, but I'm pretty sure Mike has a slight lead since the last time I asked.)

Simon was, well, kind of weird: the black sheep of the flock. What is there to say about that 6 year old? He's playful, but keeps to himself. He's like other people, but hates being a part of groups, and he gets along with Sam, Tom, and Mil like good friends, but they all tend to keep away from him and vice versa. I'm not really sure what it is about him, he does have a good heart after all, but no one seems to want anything to do with the poor guy. I've asked his parents what's wrong with him, but they never say anything. Greg started a rumor that his parents did some kind of sick experiment that reversed the way his brain works, but I doubt if anyone other than the guy who started it believed it. Maybe he has a disability or something? I don't know.

_What pokemon are going to come out of personalities like that? Hm... Guess I'll just have to take an educated guess. I'm pretty sure Peter will be a psychic type, but I might be wrong. I see a fighting type in Rachel, but I also see a ghost type. And for Simon... er... maybe a ditto or something? More likely than not it'll be a normal type, but who can be sure? Ugh... so much stress over something that's going to be answered in a few minutes or so! Why is it always so much more stressful to think about about-to-happen events than long-way-off-ones?! _

"My guess would be relativity." I turned and stared at her. "It was written all over your face, and I DO have a major in human psychology, so I know what I'm talking about." ... "I never knew Mr. Becker offered human psychology." She just broke into a fit of laughter at that, and I couldn't help but get carried away in it (laughter IS contagious after all.) When we calmed down, we noticed a pile of clothes on the edge of the cliff.

"Ok, now that's just cruel. Who'd be heartless enough to put the shy boy on the edge of a cliff?" "I have no idea Jess, but I think we might want to move him before he wakes up." I gave her an honest-to-goodness smile, earning me a who-are-you-and-what-have-you-done-with-the-person-who-was-just-here look. "Peter's been improving since you left. He's still the same shy boy, but he faints a lot less." She gave a low chuckle. "That's good I guess. All the same, it's not exactly calming to wake up on the edge of a cliff." "Yeah, good point."

**10 minutes later...**

Here's a good question: what would you do if you woke up one morning not yourself? I don't mean necessarily as a pokemon, just not human in general. ... ... Ok, now that you're done fantasizing, what would you REALLY do? As I found out by experience and from what the others told me, only one of them reacted how she thought she would: Samantha, due to the fact her answer was "I would never change from being so perfect!" and her definition of perfect means super-egotistical. Me? I thought I'd get right up and do a whole body examination right away, but as it turns out, I was too busy finding my friends/supplies, so it took me 2 DAYS to do that body examination.

Why do I bother asking? Because 98% of the world's population is wrong when they answer the question. Sure, there are those out there who dream and fantasize about it, but chances are, they're still wrong. Why is that important? Answer: How would a shy 9 year old do if he woke up as a Pokemon? The first thing that popped into your head was panic, fear, or maybe even fainting, right? Guess what OUR shy 9 year old did... or just read the next paragraph, which ever works better for you.

"Uhh..." The pile of clothes started moaning 10 minutes after we moved it away from the cliff. But it wasn't a moan of fear or anguish. It was a moan of relief. Needless to say, that shocked the socks (or it would have had we been wearing any) right off of us. We made mild bets (a chocolate bar Katy brought with her and the pretzels from Mike's trial mix (he gave 'em to me after he finished the bag's raisins)) on what he would do. I guessed trembling in fear, Katy went with panicking, and from the moan of pleasure that just came from the pile, it was obvious that we were both wrong.

"I... I'm alive... after... after being hit with... falling starts..." More shock: He was calm about almost dying, and let us know in his traditional slow-and-quite voice. "Has he really improved that much?" Katy whispered to me. "No. Not at all. He's still timid by his shadow as far as I know." we watched in silence as Peter pulled himself free of his clothes, reveling that he was a ralts, which was, and I noticed when I thought about it, was a perfect pokemon-match for him.

He stood up, his back turned toward us, on his weird too-big-clothes-like legs, and looked around. "What pokemon is that?" I answered with my own whisper. "A ralts: third generation; psychic type; and yes, that bag like white stuff is his legs." "Creepy legs, but I think he looks kind of cute like that." I gave her an oh-brother look. "You think anything smaller than you that isn't a bug is cute, and even then there are exceptions. Then again, I have to agree with you on this one, and I'm not exactly the cute-loving type."

Meanwhile, Peter was finished with examining his environment, not looking even remotely nervous (maybe he WAS nervous, but he did a good job of hiding it if he was). He then turned his attention to his now white and fingerless hands. "I... am not in my town... I am... somewhere else... somewhere different... and... I'm not human..." He looked at the rest of his body, from the slackly skin legs to the red horns. "I... am a... pokemon... a ralts... how? what is... going on... here?..."

Finally, I decided to let him know that he wasn't alone. "Peter?" He turned to me. "Ah... Jessie... you are... a Torchic... and the other is..." "Um..." Katy looked really nervous. She had a right to be: when she left, Peter could barely speak. Now he was talking, and he probably had said more in the last 3 minutes than all of last week put together. Was it just me, or was Peter acting a little out of character? Anyway, seeing that Katy was a little tongue tied, I answered instead. "She's Katy. She came for a visit when this whole mess happened."

"I... see..." He walked over to us, rather slowly and stumbly, but walking all the same. Personally, I always thought the deal with ralts legs was that the skin wasn't attached to the legs themselves, like a shirt so big it drops over your knees or something like that. I have no idea what's in the space between the skin and the legs, but judging from how Peter was stumbling along, I think my idea seemed rather accurate. "So... are the others... here too?" I nodded. "And it's not that we just arrived. For some reason or another, the first of us have been here for 5 days already."

"That's... Interesting... then... you came... to take me... to the others... yes?" I nodded. "Yeah, just give us a minute or so to get your stuff together and we'll be on our way." He tilted his head. "Why... can I... sense... uncertainty... from you?" "Wha?" "Ralts can sense the emotions of those around them Katy. The thing is Peter, you're awfully calm about all this, and you can use your new found special ability after only being in that form for about 5 minutes. We're just surprised, that's all." He nodded. "I... understand... but... you... do know... that... there is... a difference... between... shy and... timid..." "Oh yeah. Heh heh... sorry about that!" I was blushing now, and I hate it when I blush.

"As for... the... ability... I... am not... using it... it is... constant... unchangeable... like a... heart beat..." Katy nodded. "I see, so you can't control it. It's ok Peter, there's nothing embarrassing about knowing our emotions as long as you don't go sharing them with everyone." "Ok... I... won't then..." As me and Katy pulled up his clothes, I realized something. "Hey, Peter?" "...Yes?" "How can see with that green hair over your face?" Shocked again: Peter gave a little giggle. "I... don't really... know how... I can... just see... though it..."

**20 minutes later...**

"Ugh... where are they?!" "Getting impatient won't help Jess. Sarah and Adam are probably having trouble carrying Rachel over the thicket, and can you really blame Matt and Sam for taking a while? Besides, they're only 3 minutes late for the rendezvous, so why is it such a big deal?" We were at our rendezvous point where the six of us had agreed to come after picking up our targets. While we were waiting, Peter took the time to experiment with his psychic abilities, not that he was having a lot of success. He could actually lift a pebble a few inches off the ground for a moment, but that was it. Then again, he's the first psychic here, so who am I to say he's unsuccessful?

Suddenly, he turned toward a nearby thicket. "...I... feel... someone... coming... from there..." I turned to the thicket, and heard a faint sound: wings flapping. "That's Sarah and Adam with Rachel." He turned to me. "...Then...why can... I only... feel two... people?" I only had a moment to think about what that meant before Sarah came tumbling in, dropping a buneary as she landed. "Oof!" "Ow! Uh... watch it Sarah! I know I'm not exactly a paper weight, but did you have to drop me?" Sarah could only look at Rachel as she tried to catch her breath. "huff... it's not easy...huff... to carry you... huff... over so much ground... huff... by myself... huff... did you have to... huff... slap Adam?" I raised an (torchic equivalent to a) eyebrow.

"Ok, what happened?" Rachel put a paw behind her head. "Well... when I first woke up Adam kinda insulted me so I reflexily smacked him with my ears, and he uh..." I gave her a glare. "And he started crying like a baby. You KNOW Buneary ears sting enough to make a full grown man cry, so how did you think a pokemon bird would handle it?" She returned the glare. "Hey, I said it was reflexive!" "You still did it in full awareness!" "So? It's not like you haven't smacked him before now either!" "That's not what we're discussing here! For the love of-" "THAT'S ENOUGH YOU TWO!!!"

We both stopped and turned to see who had shushed us, and we turned to see a caterpie looking at us. ... "Simon?" He suddenly smiled. "Yep! That's my name! Who are you guys?" If you think there's something wrong with what he just said, you're absolutely right. "Er..." Either of us were in hurry to answer. Lucky for us, he lost interest in us and noticed a berry bush. "Yay! Candy!" As he ran off to munch down the 'candy,' the rest of us noticed that Matt and Sam were following at a safe distance.

"Well, how'd it go?" Matt just shook his head. "Better than I thought it would, but that's not saying much. At least he actually ran off into the right direction this time." "Yeah, and he kept saying 'I'm sleeping.' I think he thinks this is all a dream." I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's try and keep it that way if we can. I'd like to-" "EXCUSE ME!!" Katy's call caught all our attention. "Now, I know a lot has happened and been explained over the last 3 minutes, but I missed it so would someone please explain what's going on here?!"

We all just stared at each other, except Simon who was still eating 'candy.' Peter kept his head though, and quickly had an answer. "... Adam... was smacked... Rachel... is a... Buneary... Simon is... a caterpie... we are... all here so... we can... go now..." ... "Yeah, listen to the shy guy. Let's get going to this town Sarah kept talking about." Everyone quickly agreed with Rachel's plan, so we started heading out just as Adam came swooping in, crashed, and showed us that he was still crying...

**Meg**

"Sigh... what a day!" Mike and I were sitting on the porch of his house. It was sunset, and after the party came back and everyone was re-introduced, we all feasted on the new types of berries the rest of us had gathered throughout the day. We also did some territory marking, so we were familiar with our surroundings now (giant lake to south, forest to the east, unclimbable cliff to the north, and scattered trees to the west), and no one did the other kind of territory marking (thank goodness). Everyone was in their homes now, three of which were newly inhabited, except for the two of us, who were enjoying the sunset.

"Yeah... it was rather productive I guess, though rather dull compared to yesterday." He nodded. "Yeah, but discovering a town, losing a home, AND adding two to our numbers does that to ya." "True." He gave me a funny look. "You've been rather, I dunno, laid back lately. Did John threaten you with your journal again?" I shook my head. "No, I've just decided to stop wasting my breath complaining about something that isn't going to change for a while no matter what I say." He shrugged. "Makes sense I guess. The sunset's over, so why don't you go home for the night?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." As I made my way off the porch, he called out to me. "Meg, don't worry about things being dull. I'll bet my cap something exciting will happen tomorrow!" I only nodded, but it sent my mind racing. _Oh dear... now I've got a bad feeling that something horrible is going to happen... come on Meg! What could happen?! You're in a house, you're safe, and you don't have to worry about your instincts! Sigh... now I have the feeling I'm being watched..._

**Meanwhile...**

_Three shadows watched Meg enter her house. They were mad. VERY, VERY mad. Now it was clear why the others didn't bother even complaining to them about taking the cave: they had a better place waiting for them! And now they had more losers with them! "This is so unfair! __**I**__ should be the one sleeping in a house, not those dweebs!" "I have to agree with you on that one, Samantha." Greg gave a grunt of agreement. "Yeah, but how we gonna take it? We can't just drive 'em out. The moment we get one, the others'll be ready us!" "Hm..." Mitch's companions turned to him. "Mitch?" Suddenly Mitch's thinking face turned into an evil sneer. "I got a plan that'll drive 'em all off, and all we have to do is sneak into one house! _

**Mike**

What's the first thing that pops into your head in the morning? I don't know, and I don't care, because when I woke up the morning of the 6th day, I found my brother missing from his bed, and a note in his place: _You're brother is with us. Either surrender the town, everything in it, and everything you stole from us, or we'll get rough with him!!! -Samantha, Mitch, and Greg._


	16. Chapter 14: You Would not Dare!

**Chapter 14: You Wouldn't Dare!**

**Jess**

When I woke up that morning, there was something... I don't know, unsettling in the air. You know, like that your-being-watched feeling you get in the middle of the night? At any rate, I woke up that morning with a nasty feeling in my stomach (or fire sac. I can't tell where it is in my gut). Two seconds after I got out of my bed, I had something to put up to that feeling: Mike slamming my front door open like there was a tornado after him.

BANG!

"JESS!! WAKE UP!!"

"Ugh..." shaking the sleep out of my eyes, I turned to him. "What is it Mike? Is John giving you any-" I stopped the moment I saw him. He was sweating bullets, huffing like he was suffocating, and his eyes were wide with terror. These signs could only mean one thing: Tom was in trouble.

"Ok, what-"

"TOM'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!!! THEY HAVE HIM!!! THEY'VE THREATENED TO HURT HIM!!! THEY MIGHT EVEN-"

SMACK!

"Calm down Mike! Panicking isn't going to help, and it's probably what the bullies had hoped you would do... well, at least Mitch would. Now, we're going to calm down, order a meeting, and come up with a plan, ok?"

Mike didn't move except for the sweat dripping off him.

"I'll take that as a yes."

**10 Minutes Later...**

"All righty... seeing that Mike's out of it, we're going to need a temporary strategist."

Dan's request was the most obvious statement of all time. If Mike's face and sweat didn't make things as black and white as possible... actually, now that I think about, I don't think there IS a way it could have been more black and white. Anyway, we were all together in Katy and Mil's house because it was the biggest of the bunch and we didn't want to put together a plan outside where it could be overheard. I was keeping lookout, Matt was standing next to the door, the new trio were looking around trying to remember what everyone was, and the rest of us were just chilling, or in Mike's case spilling.

"So... does anyone have a nomination?"

John raised his hand.

"Other than Chuck Norris, Mr. T, or Superman?"

John put his hand back down.

Mil's paw went up next. "I want Katy to be in charge!"

Several heads nodded in agreement. Why Katy? Simple: She was the oldest. That's good enough reason for the younger kids, and the older ones, well, I'd like to think the main reason was because no one else wanted to be the one everyone hates if things go wrong, but I dunno.

"Uh... not that I'm the kind to spot things others miss but... why not just charge 'em? I mean, it's 17 to 3! Even if half of us can't fight, we still out-man over 5 to 1! Are we really going to let only 3 idiots push all of us around?"

We all stared at him. Dan provided the answer. "Not to state something so obvious that even YOU should have realized it, but if we just charge them, Tom will get hit with a splinter. Odds are they have something set up so even if we jumped all three of them, Tom could still be hit. And even if we have to let the 3 to 17 thing push us, Tom's safety is priority one."

"Well, seeing as no one has any objections worth mentioning, what's the plan, Katy?"

"Well... hm..." She took a minute, no doubt to come up with something because being elected prime tactician wasn't exactly what she'd been expecting to wake up to.

"Well... I guess a good first choice of action would be to ask for a negotiation or something..."

"....Hm... It's a bit of a long shot..."

"Don't know if that would work on Greg... I don't think he even knows HOW to negotiate..." Needless to say, Katy's first idea wasn't all that bright. You had to cut her a little slack because she just woke up and the call for leadership came out of nowhere, but-

Then I realized something. "I think I know how to turn a long shot into a huge advantage..."

**Some Time later...**

_"Ya think they'll go and agree with us? I don't see how them runts would just go and give up that much stuff fer just this little rat." _

_Tom was terrified. After waking up in the middle of the night to find he was being kidnapped, he fainted from sheer terror. In fact, by now Tom was frozen in place from blind fear rather than the splinter being pointed at him when it was as big as him. If there were any thoughts of escape or rescue in his mind, they were not coming to him._

_"And how are we going to know whether they agreed with MY deal or not?" Samantha was as doubtful of Mitch's plan as Greg. _

_"I told you already! I don't expect them to do anything until they come and have a talk with us! With his brother in danger, Mike's got to be useless to them. So, without anyone to put together an actual battle plan, they'll have no choice but to surrender! It's as simple as that!" _

_"Hmph! As if any idea an idiot like you could slap together could ever be half-decent!"_

_Suddenly, the trio heard a noise like leaves rustling. Greg's reaction was instantaneous. "WHO EVER'S THERE BETTER STOP RIGHT NOW OR THIS HERE RAT'S GONNA GET IT!" _

_A response came from a tree above them. "As If I would want to. I don't have any hands to save the kid, so I'm not even worth your ammo." _

_Greg calmed down a bit, but he didn't take his hand off the trigger. _

_"Yeah, bird brain? So why ARE you here then? Come to surrender?" Mitch questioned with a snide tone in his voice. _

_"As if we would! But we DO want Tom alive, so our new temporary strategizer has a better idea that you might actually want to hear." _

_Mitch would have raised an eyebrow if he had one. "And that idea would be?" _

_"A negotiation."_

**Dan**

After Adam came back with Mitch's conditions, we started putting Jess's plan into action. Mitch wanted to see only three of us: Me, Katy, and Mike. Me because I was the leader, Katy because Mitch wanted an opportunity to size her up as a tactician, and Mike, well, I think he wanted to watch him squirm at the sight of his brother in trouble or something, I guess. At any rate, it was going to be the three of us to the old clearing, which was a 5 minute flight for Adam but a half hour walk for us, and if anyone else so much as entered the forest Greg would let it rip. We didn't think Mitch had any way to enforce the conditions, but he WAS in the position of power here, so we compromised anyway.

When the three (more like two and a zombie) of us arrived at the clearing, we saw just how serious this was. 1) Mitch was slithering as if he were a real snake. We didn't have a mobility advantage over him anymore. 2) Samantha had a shield made of bark tied to her front side with vines, which protected her from electricity, and worse, put her in a bad mood (compared to her 24/7 bad attitude). 3) Greg was literally in a tree. He had apparently mastered his ghostly abilities, and was using them so that he was a step short of invisible at the moment. 4) Tom was tied up with vines, and said vines were hooked up with what looked like a mini catapult armed with a splinter. There was no way to sever the vines with hurting Tom.

"All right, we all know why we're here, so let's get to the point." Mitch's greeting was surprisingly pleasant compared to the scenarios I'd ran through my head on the way here. I just nodded, Katy followed my lead, and Mike?

"Tom..."

"Mikey...."

The looks on two brothers' faces were sadder than any tragedy Shakespeare ever wrote.

"So who are you? Not even someone as mighty as _**I**_ can identify your worthless identity as an Australian water monster!" Samantha, as always, didn't even notice the touching moment. Katy didn't take it so well.

"You'd think, but you'd suppose someone as 'high' and 'mighty' as you could tell when to keep their beak shut, yet it looks like you missed your cue!"

While Samantha's face turned red with rage, Mitch's face paled, and Greg, er... well, I don't know actually. As far as I could tell from my angle at the time he might as well have decided to take a nap right then and there. Anyways, before Samantha could get into another battle of wits with Katy (as fun as those were to watch before Katy moved out, this was not the time. Long story, another time.) Mitch stepped in. "Ok... Seeing as Katy's in charge, I think I'll just get to the point here."

"Fine!" The two water types responded simultaneously with huffs. "Anyways... I imagine you wanna negotiate on how to save this little baby-" Mike's left ear twitched as he said this. "-without having to leave that city thing, right?" Me and Katy nodded. Mike's ear kept twitching. "Well here's what I'm going to offer-"

**The following scene has been removed due to repetitive arguments for an elaborate duration of time**

"THIS IS HOPELESS!!!!" For the first time in the history of history, I actually agreed with Samantha on something. The last 45 minutes were the most pointless in my life!

In case the last part didn't give it away, here's the breakdown: we asked for mercy, they said no, and repeat for 45 minutes. We were as close to getting a negotiation as we were of finding a pizza place in the middle of the nowhere we now called home. Needless to say, we were all in a bad mood, even tough guy Greg, who all too often bragged about how he was able to stand still for hours without feeling uncomfortable, but I guess that didn't include being half-immersed in a tree while holding a loaded splinter.

"Sigh..." Greg being grumpy made me worried. _If he gets in a bad enough mood, he might just snap and pull the trigger! Ok... guess we'll have to fall back. I hope Jess's plan works... _

"All right... this is pointless." Mitch turned away from his mumbling to give me a confident look. "What? You giving in? I thought you were better than that, fearless leader!"

"I'm not surrendering! I just realized that you could never come up with a system that we couldn't beat!" I jerked after I said that as if I'd accidentally revealed something I shouldn't have.

Mitch seemed to notice though, and his smile widened. "Oh really? For your information, I have a plan that not even half-dead brother boy over there could solve! While Samantha goes to check whether or not you've cleared out, I'll take the rat to a place we picked out in advance where you'll never be able to find, and while I'm holding onto him, Greg'll keep watch from a secret spot you'd never find! If you and the others aren't out of that town when Samantha makes a call, well, use your imagination."

Now I was mad.

I walked up to Mitch as close as I dared, and whispered "Are you aware of the slight difference in scale Tom's current form possesses? A splinter in the gut as a human might hurt, but what about a Pichu?"

"Oh, yeah, I've noticed... but Greg hasn't, and he's holding the trigger! Something he doesn't know wont, hurt him, will it?"

Now I was as shocked as I was mad. Mitch _knew_ that if Greg pulled the trigger it could be fatal, but he chose to risk it!" "You wouldn't dare Mitch! You and Greg have caused lots of trouble for our town, but this... this is _way_ over the line!"

Mitch just grinned. "What line? Last I checked, there are no adults to draw one! Now be a good little fish and beat it. You and the others better be long gone when Samantha comes to call in two hours from now!"

"Grr..." Fuming under my breath, I turned to leave, but then I turned and asked, "And how do you plan on giving Tom back to us?" Mitch's answer was as expected as it was terrible. "Do you really expect us to? We're not letting him go! The moment we do, you and the others will just run in and kick us back out!" Mitch's words would be the end of him. As soon as he said that, Mike's ear stopped twitching, he stopped sweating, he turned to Mitch, and snapped.

"WHY YOU SON OF A-"

"Now, now, no need to get mad. I promise that as long as you cooperate we'll take good care of him. Now, get lost!"

It took the combined shoulder strength of both me and Katy to hold Mike back from charging in right then and there, which would have been fatal for Tom, who was crying his eyes out at the news that he was never going to be with his brother again. We were SO lucky Mike didn't resort to a thunder attack. It would have floored both of us.

The next 5 minutes... well, actually, I don't remember what we did. It's all a blur, probably because I was too busy pushing Mike away while praying he wouldn't attack while he was screaming his head off. In the end, once we'd pushed Mike far away enough, he called down... a bit.

"Grr..." At least he wasn't a zombie anymore. As we made our way back to town, his attitude improved a bit, and me and Katy discussed our options. "OK, what do we do now? They're obviously not expecting us to just give up the town, so they'll be expecting us. How do you sneak up and rescue someone who's being guarded by a giant snake and avoid getting spotted by a ghost?"

"More importantly, how are we going to make it look like we've left the town deserted? It's obvious that the best time to make our move is when Samantha's in town, and-"

"Actually..." The two of turned to Mike. "The best time to strike is as soon as she arrives in the town. Mitch and Greg will probably be waiting for a response starting from when she enters the town, and there's no way we can risk trying to ambush her in the forest because Greg'll be watching up until she clears the forest."

We both just stared.

"Mike, are you ok? This is the first time you've ever actually been able to even think straight while Tom was in trouble..."

He just shook his head.

"Yeah, but Tom's not in trouble this time. He's in danger. Samantha and Greg might have missed what Mitch whispered to you, but I didn't. I have better ears if you haven't noticed yet. He's willing to seriously hurt Tom! And he's planning on keeping him prisoner..." He clenched his 'fists'.

"Dan... I know you elected Katy tactician, but can I take my job back?"

"...Well, of course, but do you think you can pull it off?"

He nodded. "I'm positive I can. So help me, if that snake thinks he can threaten my brother and keep him away from me without any consequences, I'll be happy to be the one who decides how we give him a slap of reality!"

**John**

"Ok, I don't care what Mike thinks, if he can't put together a plan that works, I refuse to cooperate."

Adam's attitude was unshared. No one else in the house argued whether Mike was capable of a battle plan. If the lack of zombiness didn't do it, the fact that he was typing on the computer as if his brother's life depended on it (which it did) crushed any seeds of doubt. While he brainstormed, Dan and Katy filled the rest of us in.

It wasn't pretty.

Between Mitch being willing to... er... seriously hurt Tom (after joking with death so much, I can't bring myself to really talk about it when it's for real) and the fact that we had only had about 5 minutes to decide what to do (25 minutes to get back from the forest, 5 minutes already passed, needed another 25 to get in range if we're going after Tom) things looked even more bleak than the time the circus came to town, and then it was only me trying to convince my parents to go!

As I tried to pull my thoughts together, I noticed that Mike seemed to already have finished preparing himself.

He reached into his bag and pulled out what looked like a web-cam or something, hooked the other end to his laptop, pressed a button, and- FLASH! Instant light into my eyes! "AH!!! I'm blind!"

"Sorry John, but I thought you knew better than to look at a computer's web-cam when you're not using it."

"That made less sense than Samantha's self image, but I get the picture, you're too much in a hurry. All's forgiven, but I'm marking this down."

"Er... yeah..." After I moved out of the light's way and my vision came back, I noticed that Mike had somehow put together a system that allowed a projection of his computer screen to appear on the wall, and it was obvious that he was going to use it for the game plan. Mike finished in record time: 10 or more power point slides in under 2 minutes. I would've been impressed if he hadn't just temporarily blinded me.

"Ok people, I don't think I need to bring anyone up to speed, and I don't have time to go into details. Here's the game plan-" He pressed a button and the slide show started, showing a poorly drawn, but accurate, map of the area.

"We're going to split into three groups." "One to take out Samantha, one to intercept Greg, and one to rescue Tom.

Now, their system of assault and self-protection is crude, lame, and outright stupid, but it's effective, and it works surprisingly well. It has two parts: Samantha goes and checks the town to see if it's all clear, then Greg rushes over to get Mitch, and the two of them, with Tom in tow, make their way to the Town, move in, and if any of us try anything..." Mike shook his head. This was no time to be thinking about Tom's plight.

"Anyway, it may work surprising well, mostly because the three of them always have invincible protection, or a positional advantage. However, there are three flaws, and that's how we're going to beat 'em. First, Samantha will have plenty of time to load some splinters if we try and storm the place after she comes in, so the key is to attack her right as she gets in, out of Greg's view, but before he expects to hear the ok. We need a team of stealthy, silent, hard to spot attackers, and hopefully someone with a type advantage to take her out swiftly. That's group one."

"Secondly, Greg may be untouchable while in a tree, but the catch there is it saps his energy. If he were to get in a position where he could have a feast, not be pressured with time, and see no attempts to attack him (and giving his 'take what you want' attitude) there's a 95 percent chance of him leaving the safety of his tree if we set the trap right. The main problem, however, is still the blister he's carrying around. We have to get rid of it, and that mean we're going to need a fast one of us to swipe it, and a strong force to take him on. That's group two."

"Finally, Mitch's entire operation depends on them keeping Tom captured. We take away his only power over us, we have no reason not to kick his ...er... snake hide. Also, I imagine it's safe to say he'll have some kind of gizmo to fire a blister, so that's got to go as well. Take out those two targets, and Mitch should be no problem to take down. He's not Greg. He doesn't have an evolution advantage, and if attacked from the trees, he should be easier to take down than John." ... "None taken, mister 'I forgot he's still here And I should have check to see if he was insulted'!" ... "Moving on..."

"Here's what I have in mind for the three groups: 1) Missy, Mary, Meg, John, and Sarah. The twins have a type advantage, John and Meg have resistance to water types, and can provide air support from the roofs.

2) Jess, Katy, Adam, Tim, and Mil. Greg'll be the hardest to bring down, so I want half of our fighters against him. Jess has the only experience of all of us and Katy's the oldest. I want Adam to come along for air support in the trees. Mil will go so she can take away his splinter without anyone getting hurt. And I want Tim to go with you, despite having a serious type disadvantage, because a direct approach will be impossible, and you should be able to help them around that problem.

3) Dan, Sam, Matt, Rachel, and me. I want Dan, Rachel, and Sam to come because although none of you are good fighters, you'll provide necessary man power. With Mitch being as flexible as he is, the more of us there are, the better. Matt, you're the strongest of all of us, so you shouldn't have too much trouble not getting eaten, and I'm not going to be functioning very well unless I'm in the group that's going after Tom."

He turned off the slideshow. "As for you two, I want you to say inside the town, and stay hidden. You're a little too unprepared to join a battle front Peter, and I'd feel better if no one had to worry about keeping an eye on Simon." "I... see..."

"Anyway people, we have a lot of ground to cover, and a VERY small time to get in position. Group 3, we have to get going right now, or our timing will be off." Dan nodded. "Will do, now let's move!" With that, the five of them set off. Katy turned to her party. "OK, we have the tough job. We have to set a trap to lure out Greg and swipe his splinter. Let's get out there and get to work while we have the chance!" And the second group set out. I turned to our party. "John, don't even THINK about us electing you leader of the group." "I wasn't going to suggest that Meg. We may have the most prep time, but we need it the least. I want to know if anyone else feels like swiping Mike's computer." SMACK! "OW.....Never mind..."

**Jess**

"If this works, I'll eat my tail feathers." "Last I recall, this set up was originally your idea, Adam." "Yeah, until you guys twisted it around to the point where it has practically no resemblance to my idea!" Adam's plan was to lure Greg out with a pile of fruit that he could never miss. Needless to say, we all disagreed. Yes, Greg isn't the brightest bulb in the factory, but he's not a complete idiot. So, in order to make it less conspicuous, we replaced the empty pile with a bush full of fruit, and instead of waiting behind a tree, we waited between the roots of one after Tim dug a hole under it. It wasn't easy getting in there, let me tell you, but we made it and we waited.

"Well... let me see..." I put a wing to my mouth. "Your 'plan' also involved a vacuum cleaner, a flash light, and a green cap. We don't have any of those and I fail to see the logic, if there is any, behind cosplaying a video game character from a series our life has yet to resolve around." "Well... you never know! You see, I had a dream once about a crossover and-" "If you don't zip it, I'll make you indistinguishable from a KFC dinner." "... Ok, I'll be quiet now." He whispered. "Good, because Greg's almost here." I whispered back. If it's possible to pale under blue and white feathers, Adam pulled off yet another unbelievable feat.

"Dang it Mitch! Why'd ya have to send me on this job before I ate!?" "Who cares lardy!? You're big enough go a month without eating that slop-for-fruit!" "What are you complainin' about?! You ate more than your own body weight before we left!" Watching the two stooges argue was WAY better than ANYTHING they'll put on broadway for a LONG time. Shame I was too busy trying to keep Adam from saying as much to really enjoy it. Plus being worried about being spotted probably helped ruin it too.

"Look, just get! I can see the town from here, so you go and do your part, and I'll do mine." "Fine, stooge." I caught sight of Samantha as she waddled past our root house. She was wearing what could only be described as a Piplup sized suit of armor... made of tree bark. Apparently, that shield she had back at the dispute was only a tease. _Dang! I hope Missy and the others have a plan that doesn't involve just zapping her. _And then she was gone.

"Meh! Stupid penguin! If this wasn't a three-man jig, I'd toss ya off that cliff! Probably should after the town's ours." He kept mumbling to himself, and walked into the tree we were hiding under! His feet actually landed inches from my beak! Out of the corner of my vision, I saw that he still had his splinter on him. _Please don't look down, Please don't look down, Please don't look down... _"Huh?" I froze and tensed, and so did everyone else. "Well, what do ya know? A bush of food just fer me!"

My heart started beating again, and I had to slap my wing on Adam's beak to keep him from letting out his breath in a loud sigh. As Greg got off our tree and started making his way to our bush, I turned and nodded to Mil. She nodded back, and tensed up, ready to spring out and whack the splinter out of his hand before he could use it. After his weapon was out of the picture, the rest of us would charge. I raised my other wing, and silently counted down for the right moment to strike. _3... 2... 1_...

**Meg**

"Ok... either that's Samantha, or someone put penguin feet on a tree stump." I would have slapped John silly for that joke if it hadn't been true. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought it was a waddling tree stump too. We were hiding out in Mike's 'house' because it was the closest to the forest. Everyone but John, who was keeping lookout by glancing out the corner of the window, was down on the floor out of sight, though I snuck a glance when John said that.

"Um... I think Samantha didn't take Mike's zapping too kindly." Sarah said. "Well, there goes the direct approach." Both the twins stated. John nodded. "Yeah, it's a shame. Guess we'll have to come up with something else." Katy put a paw to her mouth. "Hm... that armor can't be that well put together. My guess is that if we found and sliced whatever is holding it together, she'll be completely vulnerable."

"Great idea Katy, except the only way we're going to pull that off is if one of us gets close enough, and I don't fancy tangoing with her. Hard to believe as it is, I think she still has a splinter on her." I stared at John in disbelief. "Say what now?! How can she even see in that thing?!" He turned to me.

"This is Samantha we're talking about. Need I say any more? Besides, by the look of it I'd say she's not exactly happy with wearing that 'penguin suit'." Sure enough, I could hear her mumbling (rather loudly) from my place on the floor.

"Ok... so how do we find the hole in her armor without getting close?" Sarah asked. Everyone in the room gave their various thinking hums and turned away, including me. _Ok... think about what everyone here can do. The twins can fry that monster once she's exposed, and I guess John could slice the ropes. He's certainly fast enough to get up close to her if she's distracted. But how to distract her without risking anyone getting hurt... _

I had a brainstorm. "I've got it!" I turned to John. "Remember that stupid painting you scared me with the day Samantha showed up?" John turned toward me. "Well, yeah, how could I forget that?" "How long did it take you to paint it?" He shrugged. "About 30 seconds. It was kinda easy painting a Gengar face. Why does it matter?" I grinned. "If you can paint one of me in that time, Samantha won't be standing in 50 seconds."

**Dan**

"This doesn't look good." Mike's whispered statement couldn't have been more obvious. Just as he had predicted, we found Mitch with Tom on the cliff next to the waterfall. Unfortunately, we found Tom still tied up in that 'auto splinter launcher' set up, another launcher that had a manual trigger, and Mitch's head a few inches from his body. Needless to say, charging in was nothing short of suicide. Looking from our position on top a nearby tree, I didn't see an easy way to handle the situation.

I turned to the rest of our 5 Pokemon party. Sam looked nervous but determined, Matt was itching to use his mighty muscles, and Rachel looked rather smug. "Uh... Rachel? Why are you so sure about this? You've been a Buneary for less than 24 hours." She smirked at me.

"Experience only goes for so much. You've been here for what, 6 days now and you still don't know how to perform a simple tackle!" I'm sure I blushed a bit there. Just a bit. She continued "My balance might be off, but I can still slap that snake so hard he'll cry more than Tom did!" I returned the smirk. "I'm all for the idea, when we find a way to get Tom out of harm's way. Any suggestions for said action?"

Naturally, no one said anything. Everyone turned to Mike instead. "Hm..." He crossed his 'arms' and closed his eyes, deep in thought. "Maybe..." He turned toward the cliff. "Ok... I have an idea that will get Tom out of here, but it'll make us two men short in the fight."

He looked around at us, no doubt to see if anyone was against the idea. I nodded at him. "Sure thing Mike. 3 against 1 with no hostages is still better than 5 against one with a hostage. What's the plan?"

"Well, the main idea is that if I charge strait at Tom and tackle him, I'll push him out of the launcher's way, And If I use a quick attack, I could do it before Mitch has time to react." Matt raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Yeah, that would work... Except that the only angle you could hit him will send the two of you off the cliff."

Mike turned to him. "That's why it'll make the battle 3 against 3 instead of 4 against 1. If you make your way down the cliff, you can catch us before we go splat." Matt stopped to think about it, and then nodded. "Ok, I'll start making my way down now." And with that, he turned around, hopped off the tree and ran off. One minute later, he jumped off another tree out of sight from Mitch, down the cliff, and into the water.

We all just stared at where we he landed. "Er... I guess the plan's a go then." Rachel said. Looking over the side of the cliff as best I could, I saw Matt pull himself out of the lower river. Then I realized another hole in the plan. "Wait a minute... Mike? Can you even DO a quick attack?" "Er..." He turned his gaze skyward. I sighed. "I guess that would be a no." Rachel slapped a paw to her non-existent forehead. "Ugh... Mike! Why did you come up with a plan that you can't do!"

Mike shook his head. "Look, it's not that I haven't been working on it! I can run really fast! I'm just not sure if it's a quick attack!" I turned away to think. _Yeah right, Mike! Like you'd slip up like that with your brother in danger! You have a plan, I know it..._ Then I heard Mike gasp and turned to see him looking at his watch. "Ok... I have to go with this plan, or we're toast. Even without Matt, we're a little short on time. We barely have 2 minutes left 'till Mitch knows something's up."

"Sigh..." I shook my head. "Alright, however farfetched as it is, you'd better find out how to quick attack to Tom, and find out fast!" He nodded, and rushed down the tree and out of sight. I turned to Sam. "Ok, regardless of whether he pulls it off or not, I want you to stay here and pelt Mitch with acorns. Got it?" He nodded. Then I turned to Rachel. "You and me are going down there and getting close and personal. Mike's plan leaves Mitch with two splinters, and we don't want him aiming them at this tree."

She gave me another smirk. "Got it." And with that, we made our way down the tree. (In case you're wondering how a Mudkip managed to climb a tree in the first place, it was possible thanks to Matt's baseball pitching skills. No further questions please.) As I glanced out through the bushes to where Mitch and Tom were, I spotted a small patch of yellow to the left of us. _Ok Mike, we're waiting on you..._

**Meanwhile...**

_Peter peaked through the bushes. He could barely see the building closest to their position. The two of them had not been able to get very far, with Peter tripping over his own skin every few minutes, so they had to settle behind a few bushes about 50 yards away from the town. "Even if they do run for it, I doubt they'll head this way." Peter turned toward Simon. "Yes... I know... they are... too strong... to... retreat..." _

_"That is true, but that's not what I mean. Even if they're forced to retreat and surrender, they won't run away. They'll either go back to the cave, or after Tom. They care too much about him to even consider leaving him, except maybe Adam but his opinion is not going to have any impact on their actions." Peter nodded. "Then... do you... think that... they won't... succeed?" _

_"I didn't say that. Personally, I think there's a 70 % chance that they'll pull it off. The other 30 percent depends on whether they can challenge the three of them to battle. Only Jess has real battle experience, and so do the Mitchel's. Plus, except for against Samantha, they're all going to have a type disadvantage. Nothing's strong against a ghost type, and even if Tim manages to make his way over to Mitch, he doesn't know how to fight properly. It's not a hopeless battle, but it's most certainly going to be a hard one. Any other questions?"_

_"Yeah... why do... you bother... with the... Caterpie...form?" Simon smirked. "Because if they knew, they'd expect me to shift around at random. It's the challenge of pretending to be crazy." Peter had nothing to say. He knew that Simon refused to show anyone but him his secret, and he had never yet given him a reason why. He just shook his head and turned back to the town, away from the Ditto... _


	17. Chapter 15: The Climax at Last!

**Chapter 15: The Climax, at last!**

**Mil**

_"So... how exactly do you do a quick attack?" I smiled at my sister. "I just want to run really fast, and I do!" She looked at me funny for a second, but then she shook her head. Whatever works for you I guess..." "Huh?" I gave her a funny look back. "Well... you see Milly, I haven't been able to do any moves yet myself and I've tried to want it but..." She shook her head again. "Never mind. It's just a bit of a pet peeve I guess." Now I was really confused..._

"NOW!" I dashed out and ran straight toward Greg! He didn't notice me until I was right behind him. "Wha-" He turned and I ran around him the way he didn't look. I now had a second to grab the splinter! But... right when my mouth was about to knock it, he jumped away from me! "HEY!" "Uh oh..." He gave me a bad smile. "Nice try shorty, but not good enough!" He tossed the splinter at me!

The world seemed to slow down. _I'm__going__to__die..._flashed through my head. That moment, I felt something building up inside my throat. Without even thinking, I spat it out, and launched a black ball! It knocked the splinter down, hit Greg, and knocked him back! "Gah!" I was so surprised at this, I forgot what I was supposed to do! Then I remembered, and quickly ran at the splinter that he dropped.

The splinter was really just a piece of wood with sharp stuff on it, so I had to pick it up with my teeth. I didn't drop it when I ran back to the tree, but it kinda hurt in my mouth. Greg didn't stand back and watch me though, "Gimme that, fox!" He was running after me! He was faster than me, but if I used a quick attack I'd probably drop the splinter! But then I heard Sis call out: "Mil! Go wrong!"

**(flash back)**

_"I'm__so__confused!"__"About__what?"__I__looked__my__sister.__"Why__is__it__left__and__right?__Does__it__mean__that__left__is__wrong?"__She__just__laughed.__"No__silly.__The__word__'right'__has__more__then__one__meaning.__You__know,__like__where__and__wear."__"Well,__I__still__don't__like__it!__What__if__right__is__wrong!"__She__just__shook__her__head__a__put__a__hand__on__my__head.__"Ok__then...__how__about__we__call__left__wrong__until__you__can__tell__the__difference,__ok?"_

I turned and jumped to the left. "Wha-?" Greg didn't know she meant to go left, and I guess that's why he didn't get out of the way in time to not get hit by the wall of fire Jess shot at him. "YEAOW!" Oh well, too bad for him. In fact, it was a shame that he put the fire on his tail out this time by dropping and rolling. He was burned, but not out...

**Mike**

"Ok Mike... you got yourself into this, you have to go through with it." Truth be told, I was less than up to the task. I was sweating bullets again, shaking, and talking to myself. "Out loud. Not a good sigh." I sighed. My feelings were fighting my logic again. Logically, all I had to do was run out there. I had a theory: if a situation should arise that requires a move, we can instinctively use it.

This theory had been proven more times by the others than I could count. Jess with her battle, Mil playing tag, Meg slapping John, the twins frying Adam, me frying Samantha... the list goes on. The only problem was, none of it truly proves it, and I couldn't get over the fact that my theory was only a theory. Excuse me for not being able to get over the fact that I have human emotions, even if I didn't have a human body at the time.

Plus, there was another flaw I'd just spotted. I'd have to run up in the open a bit before I could quick attack. Otherwise, I'd come up short to the cliff. Needless to say, this was a VERY serious issue, not only because it could get Tom hurt before I could do anything, but it simply helped fry my nerves.

I glanced at my watch again. _30__seconds__or__less..._You know that moment? The moment that you HAVE to act? As it's been my experience, the moment one DOES act usually come the second after. It usually doesn't matter, as one second more hesitation to, say, jump off a diving board doesn't matter, but to my systematic way of thinking... 2_0__seconds..._

Maybe Mitch will be too careless to notice me... yeah right... _15__seconds_... I think I'm panicking... not thinking straight... _10__seconds..._What if I'm getting so worked up for nothing, and this turns out too easy? _5..._Don't... _4..._think... _3..._just... _2..._act... _1..._NOW!

I dashed out from the bush just as Mitch gave a grunt of impatience and turned toward the forest. Out of sheer dumb luck, he turned on the side of his head that I WASN'T coming from.

That gave me the time I needed to close the space between me and the cliff. Mitch didn't notice me, and Tom's eyes grew even bigger than their already huge size. (if that's even possible). Thankfully, he kept his head and his muzzle shut.

Unfortunately, I was not being very careful with what I was doing. Rather than sneaking up carefully and quietly, I stepped on a bug-sized twig, giving away my presence. Mitch didn't turn, but I could still see the evil smile on his face. "Ah... so you DID come. I was hoping you would." He moved his tail tip right on the splinter launcher. One twitch and it'd fly (for the less than visionary, the launcher was basically a classic mouse trap made of tree bark and a rubber band).

I held my ground, not daring to move. "You see... I've always had this thing about rats... and this body I have seems to agree with me..." Tom started whimpering and silently crying, too terrified to make any real noise. "And that thing is..." he flicked his tail tip, launching the splinter at Tom! "LUNCHMEAT!" Tom screamed. My heart stopped. Time seemed to slow, and before I could help myself, despite how stupid an action it was, I had a flashback...

**(Flashback)**

_"sniff..." "There now, that wasn't so bad." I stood up and looked at my handy work. True, it was only a band-aid on a small scratch, but I couldn't help but love the feeling that came with helping my 3 year old brother. But Tom didn't seem to share my excitement. "Sniff... but it hurt when it come off!" I smilled and rubbed Tom's leg above the band-aid. He always loved the feeling, and it helped him calm down. _

_"Don't worry. I'll be here for you. and yes, it may hurt for a small bit, but it won't last long." He looked up at me. "Next time too?" I laughed. "Hey, no one said you're going to fall out of a tree again! But yeah, I'll be here for you. I'll always be here for you..."_

"NOOO!" I dashed, though there was no way I could cover the distance fast enough. I couldn't let it happen! I couldn't... I... NO! My senses faded. I didn't think about it. I didn't need to: I KNEW what I had to do. I sent a burst of energy through my body, launching me to a lightning speed as I tackled Tom, snapping him out of his trap, sending another splinter at us. But I didn't stop, I kept going... all the way off the cliff, me holding Tom in a tight embrace.

I didn't stop when the ground disappeared under my feet. I didn't stop when I felt the wind going by as we fell. I didn't even stop when I faintly felt Matt catch the two of us and set us down. Only when Tom's screaming stopped and his breathing slowed next to me did I finally loosen my grip, and let my senses slowly come back to me. I looked down at the small yellow face looking back at me.

He was still breathing heavily, but not so much I was worried. There was a huge smile on his face. "Mikey..." He whispered. I could only start petting his head. "It's ok, Tom... I'm here..." Sadly, our moment was interrupted from a scream of pain from up the cliff. And to my satisfaction, it was Mitch's scream...

**Meg**

"There. Not exactly the Mona Lisa, but then again it's not entirely my fault." I gave John a glare. "Are you saying I'm ugly?" 'Nah, just that Pokemon didn't exist when Leonardo was painting." I shook my non-existent head. John had to be the only guy in existence who could tell bad jokes when facing a battle. Then again, I guess I would start panicking if he ever DIDN'T tell bad jokes when the chips were down.

At any rate, the picture he had drawn wasn't very good, but it was good enough for what I had planned. It was simple: get rid of Samantha's splinter, and she'll have nothing to defend herself with. The solution: have her launch it at a decoy. (no, not the move, you poke-fanatics!) There was just one problem: making it convincing.

"Samantha's a walking ego, but she's not a complete idiot (much as I hate to admit it). So, for her to fall for a less-than-impressive drawing, we're going to have to add some accessories." I turned to John. "Before you even try, I don't mean jewelry, make up, or hair designs." "Aw... no fair!"

"So, here's what I have in mind: we're going to plant our decoy at a corner on the end of a house. This way, we have some room to work, and dodge, when she turns to face it. Plus, the shade will make it harder to tell that it's a decoy.

Sarah, I'm going to tie strings to the top of this cut out. I want you to position yourself on top of the house, and your going to hold it up like a puppet master." She raised a non-existant eyebrow. "I don't think I can hold it steady enough..." I smiled. "That's the idea. those subtle motions should make it more convincing."

John raised a hand. "Yeah, except for one thing. Where exactly do you plan on getting said strings?" I gave him a smirk. "Oh, don't worry, I have a plan..." I let my vines loose, reached over to him, and flicked his scarf off. "Hey!" He reached to snatch it back, but I had already pulled it out of his reach.

"Don't worry, I'll make you a new one later." I carefully pulled a loss string to my mouth, clamped down, and started pulling the strings loose. "Wait a minute, what about the naked issue? I recall you nearly tearing up our table for uniforms!" I gave him another smirk. "What was that about you telling me to 'give it a rest?' Consider yourself lucky I'm only taking your scarf. I was planning on using what's left of your pants if they were here right now."

That zipped him up. In all honestly, It DID still bother me, but I'm not an idiot either. I knew this was no time for trivial matters like that. Besides, who's going try and make me stick with my own closed ideas anyway?

"OK, second of all, the twins are going to stand next to the dummy. This should make it seem like we're all there to take a stand, plus you'll be in position for when her armor's gone." The twins answered together: "But what if she aims for us instead?" I finished with the strings, and then set on attaching them to the dummy. "That's number 4. I'll explain when I get there."

"Number 3 is John. I want you to hide around the corner opposite ours. As soon as she launches the splinter, you rush in and slice the straps on her suit." He shook his head. "And how am I supposed to do that?" I sent my other vine over to Mike's discarded travel bag and pulled out his pocket knife. "Ah... Hopefully the straps will be easier to cut than the thicket was."

"And finnaly, I'm going to position myself right next to the dummy, but out of view. This way the dummy can 'use' my voice." Sarah spoke up. "I get the part about making it convincing, but how does it ensure she's going to aim for it?" "Simple..." I was done with the strings, so I turned toward her. "I'm not going to talk to Samantha, I'm going to insult her."

The room gasped as one. No one DARED to challenge Samantha to an insult contest. NO ONE. PERIOD. It's like challenging a pro wrestler to an arm wrestle. It's just suicide. I sighed. 'Look, I'm not going to stand up to her for long, just enough to get her mad at me, so she launches the splinter at the dummy."

The room let out its breath as one. "Ok then, are we all ready?" I asked around. Everyone nodded but John. I gave him a glare. "So help me, John, if it's a joke..." He shook his head. "No, it's about your position. Where exactly are you going to position yourself? Too far from the dummy and she's not going to buy it."

I sighed again. I had not been looking forward to this part. "The only place she won't be able to see me. Right behind the dummy." The room was silent for a moment. "Then why are you even bothering with the dummy at all!" John yelled at me. I answered "To catch the splinter so I have time to jump out of the way..."

**Jess**

I amaze even myself sometimes. I was just planning on making Greg pause for a moment, and instead I fry him to a crisp. And call me crazy, but I enjoyed the feeling of launching a wall of fire from my tiny beak. Of course, this wasn't enough to take Greg down. The guy must have been training himself somehow or something, but why wasn't I even remotely surprised? Maybe it because it's Greg: always able to take more than logic allows.

Still, my flame has caused some damage, and it showed from the smoke still steaming off his body. "Gr... ok birdy... you wanna play?" He pulled himself back up, and faded into a nearby tree. "You only won last time 'cause you caught me off guard! Try pulling that again, why don't cha?"

"Well, aside from the fact that it's not 2 on 1 this time. It's 1 on 5." I turned toward the rest of our team. We had prepared a battle plan before hand. I was to take the front, being the only one with fighting experience. Adam was our eyes in the sky to keep track on Greg's tree hopping so we would know if he tried to make a break for Samantha or Mitch.

Katy and Mil were going to cover Tim, who was going to be putting together a little trap for Greg. If all went according to plan, All I had to do was keep Greg from noticing our little trap, and soften him up a bit if I could. Keeping Greg occupied: cake walk. Doing it while covering the others: not so much.

Greg is as dumb as a rock, but observant as a professional chess player. Easy to fool, but hard to hide from. Plus, I couldn't just use my fire too much. I couldn't attack Greg when he was in a tree, and I didn't want to start a forest fire. That in mind, I decided to resort to my weapon of choice: insulting his brain out.

"Hey Greg! Maybe we should start calling you Mr. Smiley from that permanent grin of yours!" "You're just tryin' to butter me up!" He called out, while I made a mental note that he was to my left. "No seriously, your face could be the next Wal-Mart logo!" He growled at that. He KNEW I was goading him, but there was a reason his mother had signed him up for an anger management course, and not just because of that poor puppy (long and sad story, I will say no more)

"Not feeling very happy? Ok then, would you mind being my Halloween costume this year? I can go right in you, you're spooky enough, and fat enough to fit me as a human!" "SHA-DUP!" He roared, his voice a bit closer to my back now. It was also cracking, a sign of limit reaching. _One__more__push__should__do__it..._

"You know I think? The only reason you don't want to charge me head on is because you, literally, don't have to guts to do it!" He didn't say anything, but I was ready for him when he charged at my back. I'm not sure how I could tell when he was right behind when he didn't make a sound, but I could, and when I did I jumped to the side, turned, and got ready to launch a flame. Only instead, I was fed a purple knuckle sandwich.

The punch itself wasn't that painful, but it was powerful! It knocked me a back a good 4 feet! "Oof!" I grunted as I landed on my back. _What__the__heck__was__that?__Did__Greg__learn__a__move__behind__our__backs?_I only had a moment to ponder before I saw another fist heading for my face. I quickly rolled out of the way. Or rather, flopped. It's not easy to roll around with feathers.

I didn't have time to pull myself up or try and attack as Greg kept throwing punches at me. All I could do was flop out of the way. _This__isn't__good!__If__I__can't__pull__myself__up__soon,__I__going__to__wear__myself__out!_Then my next flop landed me against a tree. _uh-oh..._now I was pinned between the tree and Greg! His sinister smile grew larger as he reached back to throw another punch. _This__is__going__to__hurt!_ I though as I braced myself for the hit.

But Greg's didn't get the chance. Adam swooped down between us, and his tail wind threw Greg off balance. "Wha?" Was all he could get out before Tim tossed the snatched splinter at his face. "YA!" The splinter went right through his head, but that HAD to hurt! Greg, holding a hand up to his face, turned and charged after the fallen splinter, probably hopping to use it himself.

But before he could, he fell right into our little trap. Foof! The ground beneath his feet gave away. "WHHAAAA!" Greg only fell about 5 feet, but it was enough. The plan had been to dig a little pit fall for him to fall into. As he had yet to master his ghost abilities, there was no way he would have been able to pull himself out before we finished him. I pulled myself up, ran to the hole, and filled it up with as much fire as I could dish out. When I stopped, I fell over, completely worn out.

"Huff... huff... could someone check if he's down?" I panted out. Adam flew in and looked down. "If by down you mean burnt to an even darker black, yeah, I'd say he's down."

"Whew." I let out a sigh of relief. "You know, you're getting good at this Jess. This is your second battle victory! And you seem to be enjoying yourself while fighting too." I shook my head. "Maybe so, but I still want to be human again like the rest of you..."

**John**

"Ok... everyone in position?" everyone nodded to Meg's whispered question. I however, didn't bother. None of the others could see me at my position: peeking around the corner, playing with the pocket knife, and lost in thought. Yes, I WAS paying attention, but I had a lot on my mind!

_Since__when__has__Meg__had__a__desire__to__be__a__hero__or__take__risks?__The__closest__thing__she's__ever__gotten__to__this__was__that__time__that__tree__almost__smashed__her__house.__And__all__she__endangered__then__was__her__bathroom!__Something's__going__on__here__that__I'm__missing...__Wait._I stopped playing with the knife. _She's__not__thinking__about__THAT__is__she?__If__she__gets__herself__killed__over..._

"Hey Samantha, you look 20 pounds fatter in that tree trunk!" Meg's taunt brought me out of my brooding in a snap. I quickly peeked around my corner. The building I was hiding behind was at an angle to the one the others were set up at, making me unnoticeable as long as Samantha didn't get too close to my building. That said, I was grateful that Samantha was busy turning toward 'Meg.'

"No I don't. It's beyond you're pitiful understanding, but it makes me even more noble and majestic than before! And even if it did, it would only make me more ravashing and distinguished! Not that a **Censored** like you'd be able to comprehend!" I struggled to hold back a 'fowl play' joke. Funny how easy it is to forget how serious a situation is when it doesn't affect you directly.

I dared another peek. Samantha was glaring down 'Meg', or at least I thought she was, I couldn't see her face from my angle through her armor. Still, it looked like she was falling for it. That was good. "Oh really? Well, I guess that makes sense, you've had to waddle since you got here, so all that weigh must not be from the suit!" _Since__when__has__Meg__been__trained__in__the__art__of__trash__talk?__I'd__better__have__a__word__with__Jess__when__this__is__over..._

"Oh... so the fact that I'm an Australian penguin (that paradox AGAIN?) means I'm fat? What about you, you Australian plant doohickey! (wow... either Samantha's limited dictionary is denying her something snide or she's losing her touch. I pray for the latter.) You're looking a little on the round side!" Then it hit me. _Meg...__you..._

"And I guess you would know perfectly well what it means to be round, blubber baby!"

_Oh__no__she__didn't!_

Samatha didn't gasp, growl, or retaliate. She didn't need to. I could _**FEEL**_ her anger radiating over to me. The twins and Sarah were probably confused. No one else except me and Meg knew that secret.

When Samantha was born, she had a small problem: she weighed a whopping 18 pounds. The knowledge that she had been born so 'imperfect' (in her opinion, I have nothing against the overweight) has haunted her her whole life. How did me and Meg know? We found her baby picture. We silently swore to never, EVER use this knowledge unless it was a truly desperate situation. This situation fit the bill, but it was still extremely low.

I blinked, and the splinter was heading right toward Meg! I didn't even see Samantha throw it! I didn't get the chance to move. No one did. Twish! It tore right though the paper with out losing any speed, and smashed right into Meg. "YEEAHH!" She screamed, and the twins turned to her with looks of horror. I didn't look toward Sarah, but I can only assume her face was the same.

Time seemed to stop. My mind seemed to shut down: I could not compute what had just happened. I just stood there. Staring at where Meg was hit. She had moved out of my sight, but I could see the splinter. It had a bit of green on it. _No..._

"Take that, weed!" Samantha spat. Then suddenly, something snapped in me. Once again, I could not compute was happening: I was silently charging at Samantha, blade out.

_NOOO!_Adrenaline was flooding my veins, dimming my senses outside of the distance between me and Samantha and driving my body forward on instinct. _No...__not__Meg!_ I couldn't think. Was I following the plan, or did I want to tear her apart?

When I got close enough, I noticed a gap running down the back of her suit. With a quick flick of the knife, I sliced through it, causing her armor to fall off like a wooden banana peel. "WHAT!" She screamed, and turned to face me with an evil glare. She only got to do so for a moment before she was zapped, and to my delight turned a rather overcooked shade of brown as she fainted.

"Good riddance!" I said with a huff before dashing over toward Meg. Time had started again, but I still couldn't think. I didn't look at the twins as I passed them and turned to corner. I saw Meg, lying on her side, whimpering in pain with a small puddle of green fluid by her back legs. "Meg..." I whispered. I closed in... and then I noticed it. The green stuff was only coming from her lower body.

I think it took at least an hour for my frozen mind to compute. When it did, it slowly started to work again, and so did my heart. She _must__have__jumped__aside__at__the__last__moment,__so__the__splinter__only__cut__a__gash__her__leg._It wasn't too serious, and with a little bandage work she would be alright. I felt like an elephant had just been removed from my chest.

I wnet around her, took her scarf off, made a makeshift band-aid, and her whimpers began to fade. "Hey Meg." I whispered. She opened her eyes and turned to me. "You did it. She's down. Good job." She didn't say anything back. She didn't need to.

"Yes, good job indeed!" I heard behind me. I froze. Meg did too. Her look of contentment quickly turned to shock...

**Dan**

As much as I hate to admit it... There was something deeply satisfying about Mitch getting hit in the face with his own splinter trap. Yes, it clearly hurt way more than anything we would ever have been willing to do, and that it did little actual damage to his snake hide, but it was disturbingly satisfying all the same. Maybe being a Pokemon had gotten to me at that point or something, cause I'm not the kind of guy to have a bloodlust.

"HI-YAA!" Rachel on the other hand... I pretty sure she had a desire the beat up Mitch LONG before she charged him after he was 'splintered.' SMACK! SMACK! And she showed some surprising skills at smacking people with her bunny ears. Needless to say, after seeing Mitch get launched about 5 feet back from her last round of slaps, I decided to stay back and let her handle things. "Come on, snakey! Aren't you supposed to be a level above me on the food chain?"

Mitch didn't reply with words, he just launched himself at Rachel again. She didn't miss a beat and jumped up over him, pulling a mid-air spin that gave Mitch two slaps to the face. _Wait...__what?__Has__she__been__learning__kung-fu__in__secret__or__something?_She landed behind him and struck a triumphant pose. _Or__maybe__she's__just__been__watching__WAY__too__much__Anime._

I turned from the battle to Sam, who was still holding a pebble, wondering if he should throw it. "You can put that down, Sam. If Rachel needs help, we'll have plenty of time to charge in." He gave a small nod and relaxed a bit, but he still held onto his pebble. "I'm serious, Sam." "Yeah... but I don't know any moves." " I know that. I don't have any yet either, but I'm still confident in charging this creep if we need to."

He shook his head. "But you've been fighting already." I raised a non-existent eyebrow as I heard another wail of pain from Mitch. "No I haven't! Jess is the only one who..." He shook his head again. "You got them to chase you out of the cave and got hurt from it! And you've been using your body so much... all I've ever done is light a fire, and Jess can do that too!"

I smiled despite myself. He really was a little boy despite all he'd been through and done this last week. He thought he was useless to the group! "Sam... you don't have to do anything special to be a team player here." "But-" I put a paw up to silence him.

"Who was it who decided to bombard Mitch with acorns that one time? Who was it that looked after Tom when the others were busy? And even if Jess can do it for you, you DID give us fire on night one, which we desperately needed! You've done plenty for the group so far! And don't forget, you're still only 8, even if your body's as big as mine!"

"As touching as this is, is it really a good idea to give a motivational speech while your friend is busy fighting?" I jumped and turned to see Rachel standing right next to me, tapping her foot. "Done already?" I asked. "Nah, just letting him pull himself up. No honor in striking a downed opponent, right?"

...

I face palmed. That was the main difference between Mike and Rachel: she isn't as skilled at rational thinking. "Uh... Rachel?" "Yes?" "Mitch is a snake... so anytime he's 'down' means he's in position to move."

...

"Oops..." Was all she could get out before a rather ragged looking ekans reared its bruised head up behind her. Before I even realized it, I unleashed a water gun at his face! _Woah...__that__was__surprisingly__easy__to__do...__and__it__felt__pretty__much__like__throwing__up,__minus__the__nausea..._The water was barely as strong as, say, a garden hose, but it was enough for Rachel to seize the moment and turn and land a nasty upper cut. Mitch went flying. "See what I mean!" Sam said as Rachel charged after Mitch. I turned to Sam again.

"Ok, I'll admit I didn't see that one coming, but does it really bother you that much, Sam?" He looked at me directly in the eyes. Now, don't ask me HOW I was able to see it in those squinty peepers, but I did, and I saw a fiery determination burning quietly within; an unquenchable resolve to prove himself and unleash some dormant potential. It was almost like smoldering coals, not knowing exactly how or why, but yearning desperately to fulfill a purpose of some kind -whether that turned out to be rekindling the flames of a campfire, or sending an entire forest up in flames.

_Wait a minute... since when could I make up metaphors like that? Guess it's just THAT intense of a feeling... I might have to write that one down. _

"Ok then, tell you what: you can-"What I was going to offer him (to finish Mitch off), he never heard, as I was cut off by a very angry scream of surprise. I turned back toward the battle, and to my horror saw that Rachel had, by some ill-timed stroke of bad luck, been pinned under the tip of Mitch's tail.

"CHEAP SHOT!"

To say the least, she was not taking it very well. Mitch wasn't looking too good either. He somehow had even MORE bruises than when I last saw him. But he still was holding himself up.

"Not so tough when you can't move, are ya?" He gave his rattle a good shake right next to her face, which caused her wince to a bit (her ears were still extra sensitive even if they COULD land one heck of a smack down).

I started to charge forward, but Mitch turned and said, "One more step, fish, and I'll eat her!" I stopped in my tracks. _Dang!__I'm__still__too__far__away__to__have__any__power__behind__my__water__gun!_I decided to resort to my strongest ability: talking it out. "I doubt that, Mitch. You were always a bad guy, but you would NEVER go so far as too kill someone!" He gave me a smirk.

"Oh really, Dan? You want to know WHY I never went that far? I'm not an idiot. (_could__have__fooled__me)_ If I caused anyone any harm, I'd get in trouble. But what about now? See any adults telling us what to do? I don't have anything to fear here, least of all you, goody-boy!"

_Wow...__never__thought__I'd__hear__something__so__cliché__sound__so__intimidat-__no!__this__is__not__the__time__for__jokes__Dan!__Ok,__think!__What__do__I__do?__Do__I__wait__for__Mike__and__Matt__to__get__back?_Then I noticed that Mitch was inching backwards, dragging Rachel with him. "Now if you don't mind, I'll be taking my little snack and leaving." _No!__He'll__be__out__of__here__by__then!__Ok...__fall__back__and__grab__a__rock__or__two?__No...__he'd__make__a__run__for__it.__Come__on__Dan,__come__up__with__something!_

Then, much to my surprise, a HUGE MISSLE OF FIRE came roaring past me! I'MNOTEVENJOKING! I couldn't turn, I couldn't blink, I just stared as it hit Mitch, picked him up like a leaf on the wind, and cut a hole through about four trees before exploding in a giant fireball that looked like a cross between something out of Biblical times and a small nuke. It left a 20-foot crater, and one SERIOUSLY charred and overcooked snake.

My brain must of shut down for a moment, because it wasn't until the sound of the boom stopped ringing in my non-existent ears before I turned around to see one whipped looking Cyndaquil fall to ground. I turned and charged toward Sam. He was exhausted, but still conscious. "Sam?" "Y...Yeah..." He managed to stammer out. "You have officially forfeited your right to complain. Way to go, little man." He gave me a small smile.

**1 Hour Later...**

By the time Mike, Tom, and Matt made their way up to us, we were ready to head back home. Rachel was a little bruised, but she was ok. The same could not be said for her pride. "I didn't need the help, you know!" I shook my head in amusement. _After__all__the__craziness__I've__been__through,__I__STILL__think__it's__wierd__for__a__teen__to__be__jealous__of__an__8__year__old._After stopping to pick up a black-burnt snake to take home (or rather letting muscle man Matt handle it) we headed off to rendevouz with the others.

We arrived to find Jess and the others rather comfy sitting around a purple hole in the ground. After we got the weight distributed (Greg was rather light, but we still needed 3 of us to carry him), we set out once again. And boy, did we have some 'hot stuff' to talk about.

"You did WHAT?" Adam roared as we made our way back.

"I think it was Blast Burn." Mike put in.

"Zip it Mike! No one cares! How in the world did an 8 YEAR OLD do a move bigger than Jess's? Come on Sam, prove it!" Adam said.

"Adam! You can't expect him to use such a powerful move again when he's had less than an hour to recover!" I jumped in.

"Exactly! Jess HAS to be the stronger-" Adam said.

"Adam, shut your beak before I put your theory to the test. On you." Due to Jess's threat, Adam was effectively zipped for the rest of the way home.

"Jess?"

"Yeah, Dan?"

"How do you feel about Sam's 5 seconds of fame?" I asked.

"Well, actually I'm kinda relived. I didn't want to be the only one to be able to put up a good fight among us." She said.

"I see..." I said.

"But then again, I can't help but be a little jealous. Especially after the wall of fire I've pulled off myself today." She gave a low chuckle. "I never thought I'd say this, but I may end up viewing Sam as a rival."

Our laughter echoed through the trees around us.

**Mike**

It was late afternoon when we reached the top of the hill overshadowing our town. Looking down, I could see John, the twins, and Meg waiting for us. "Hey, nice catch guys! We're gonna have one heck of a dinner tonight!"

I could hear the snap of Meg's whip from the top of the hill. When we got down, I noticed that Meg had her back leg wrapped up, yet the four of them had the biggest smiles on their faces. "Where's Sarah?" I asked, playing dumb to the fact that they had something to tell us.

"Oh, she's in her home." John said with a not-so-innocent simile.

"Why?" I asked.

"John, spill it out right now, or I'm fry you." Jess wasn't amused. "Ok, ok... THEY'RE HERE!"

John turned over his should and yelled back at Mike's house. Then the front door opened.

As one, all our jaws droped. Mitch and Greg were dropped to the ground, but none of us notice. All of us were frozen in awe, unable to react. All of us, that is, exacept for little Tom, who just dashed ahead into the waiting arms of the pair of Riachu.

"MOMMY! DADDY!" Tom yelled with glee. As the three of them hugged away, other pokemon began to emerge from all the buildings. As if on an unspoken command, everyone except me, Mitch, and Greg charged to their houses as each ran into the arms of similar looking pokemon. Finally, my shocked brain processed what I was seeing, and one thought ran through my head.

The adults were back.


End file.
